head to head · open source

Zen Browser vs LanguageTool

Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars, 1,946 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LanguageTool has 15,229 stars, 1,598 forks, 2,148 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 199% (45,517 vs 15,229 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; LanguageTool is written in Java under LGPL-2.1. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, LanguageTool 10%. Zen Browser was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.

Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.

Zen Browser ★ 46K LanguageTool ★ 15K category Productivity & Utilities

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Side by side

Zen Browser LanguageTool
GitHub stars ★ 46K ★ 15K
License MPL-2.0 LGPL-2.1
Written in C++ Java
Last push 2026-11-02 2026-11-02
Forks ⑂ 1.9K ⑂ 1.6K
Self-hosting Yes Yes
Data ownership Your server Your server

pick Zen Browser if

  • You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
  • You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
  • Your stack matches C++
  • You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance

full Zen Browser profile →

pick LanguageTool if

  • You want the LanguageTool feature set and don't need the biggest community
  • You prefer the LGPL-2.1 license terms
  • Your stack matches Java
  • You evaluated both and LanguageTool fits your workflow better

full LanguageTool profile →

About Zen Browser

Zen Browser Zen is a firefox based browser with the aim of pushing your productivity to a new level! Download • Website • Documentation • Release Notes Firefox Versions Release Is currently built using Firefox version 155.0.1 ! Twilight Is currently built using Firefox version RC 155.0.1 ! Contributing If you'd like to report a bug, please do so on our GitHub Issues page and for feature requests, you can use GitHub Discussions. Zen is an open source project, and we welcome contributions from the community! Please take a look at the contribution guidelines before getting started! Partners Thanks to all the…

read the full Zen Browser overview →

About LanguageTool

LanguageTool LanguageTool is open source proofreading software for English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Polish, Dutch, and more than 20 other languages. It finds many errors that a simple spell checker cannot detect. LanguageTool Forum How to run your own LanguageTool server HTTP API documentation How to use our public server via HTTP How to use LanguageTool from Java (Javadoc) For more information, please see our homepage, at languagetool.org , this README , and CHANGES . The LanguageTool core (this repo) is freely available under the LGPL 2.1 or later. Docker Try one of the following projects for a…

read the full LanguageTool overview →

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Frequently asked questions

Is Zen Browser or LanguageTool more popular?

Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars and LanguageTool has 15,229. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.

Are Zen Browser and LanguageTool free?

Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and LanguageTool under LGPL-2.1. Neither carries a licence fee.

What is the difference between Zen Browser and LanguageTool?

Zen Browser is written in C++ and LanguageTool in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.

Which should I choose, Zen Browser or LanguageTool?

Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (45,517 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose LanguageTool if its feature set, stack or LGPL-2.1 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.