head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs Linguist
Zen Browser has 44,481 GitHub stars, 1,754 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Linguist has 1,060 stars, 49 forks, 267 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 4,096% (44,481 vs 1,060 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; Linguist is written in TypeScript under BSD-3-Clause. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, Linguist 5%. Zen Browser was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (firefox), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Zen Browser | Linguist | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 49 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen Browser if
- You weight community size — 44K 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 Linguist if
- You want the Linguist feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Linguist fits your workflow better
About Zen Browser
Zen Browser is a privacy focused, open source web browser built on Firefox’s Gecko engine. It inherits Firefox’s compatibility and extension ecosystem while introducing a streamlined interface and productivity oriented features. The project lives in the desktop browser ecosystem, targeting users who want a Firefox based experience with reduced clutter and enhanced customization.
read the full Zen Browser overview →
About Linguist
Linguist is an open source browser extension, written in TypeScript and released under the BSD 3 Clause licence, that translates web pages, highlighted text, subtitles, and text inputs directly inside the browser. It lives in the browser extension ecosystem, with builds for Firefox, Chrome, and other browsers that support extensions, and it positions itself as a standalone translation system rather than a thin wrapper around a commercial translation widget. The project declares support for 130 languages and publishes its documentation and downloads through linguister.io and its GitHub releases page.…
read the full Linguist overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Browsers & Extensions projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Browsers & Extensions field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or Linguist more popular?
Zen Browser has 44,481 GitHub stars and Linguist has 1,060. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and Linguist free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Linguist under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and Linguist?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and Linguist in TypeScript. 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 Linguist?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (44,481 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Linguist if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.