head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs obsidian-clipper
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars, 1,946 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. obsidian-clipper has 5,451 stars, 763 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 735% (45,517 vs 5,451 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; obsidian-clipper is written in TypeScript under MIT. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, obsidian-clipper 14%. 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.
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Side by side
| Zen Browser | obsidian-clipper | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 5.5K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 763 |
| 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 obsidian-clipper if
- You want the obsidian-clipper feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and obsidian-clipper 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 obsidian-clipper
Obsidian Web Clipper helps you highlight and capture the web in your favorite browser. Anything you save is stored as durable Markdown files that you can read offline, and preserve for the long term. Download Web Clipper Documentation Troubleshooting Get started Install the extension by downloading it from the official directory for your browser: Chrome Web Store for Chrome, Brave, Arc, Orion, and other Chromium based browsers. Firefox Add Ons for Firefox and Firefox Mobile. Safari Extensions for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. Edge Add Ons for Microsoft Edge. Use the extension Documentation is available on the Obsidian…
read the full obsidian-clipper overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or obsidian-clipper more popular?
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars and obsidian-clipper has 5,451. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and obsidian-clipper free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and obsidian-clipper under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and obsidian-clipper?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and obsidian-clipper 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 obsidian-clipper?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (45,517 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose obsidian-clipper if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.