head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs Lightning-Browser
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars, 1,946 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lightning-Browser has 2,452 stars, 860 forks, 354 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 1,756% (45,517 vs 2,452 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; Lightning-Browser is written in Kotlin under MPL-2.0. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, Lightning-Browser 35%. 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.
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Side by side
| Zen Browser | Lightning-Browser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 860 |
| 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
pick Lightning-Browser if
- You want the Lightning-Browser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and Lightning-Browser fits your workflow better
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 Lightning-Browser
Lightning Browser Speed, Simplicity, Security Download Features Bookmarks History Multiple search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, StartPage, DuckDuckGo, etc.) Incognito mode Unique utilization of navigation drawer or bottom drawer for tabs Customizable search suggestions Permissions Automatically granted INTERNET : necessary to access the internet. ACCESS NETWORK STATE : used by the browser to stop loading resources when network access is lost. INSTALL SHORTCUT : used to add shortcuts with the "Add to home screen" option. POST NOTIFICATIONS : used to display notifications. Requested only when needed WRITE EXTERNAL…
read the full Lightning-Browser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or Lightning-Browser more popular?
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars and Lightning-Browser has 2,452. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and Lightning-Browser free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Lightning-Browser under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and Lightning-Browser?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and Lightning-Browser in Kotlin. 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 Lightning-Browser?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (45,517 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Lightning-Browser if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.