head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs parchi
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars, 1,946 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parchi has 546 stars, 57 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 8,236% (45,517 vs 546 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; parchi is written in TypeScript under MIT. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, parchi 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.
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Side by side
| Zen Browser | parchi | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 546 |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 57 |
| 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 parchi if
- You want the parchi feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and parchi 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 parchi
Parchi AI powered browser copilot (Chrome/Firefox extension). Chat driven browser automation in a side panel: navigate, read, click, type, extract, and summarize. ⚠️ Safety Notice Browser automation can perform sensitive actions on your behalf. Use this tool only if you understand and accept the risks: automation may violate site terms of service prompt injection can cause unsafe actions sensitive information can be exposed if you run untrusted prompts/pages Always review model output and keep strict tool/domain controls enabled when needed. 📦 Installation Chrome (recommended) Then: 1. Open chrome://extensions…
read the full parchi overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or parchi more popular?
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars and parchi has 546. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and parchi free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and parchi under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and parchi?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and parchi 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 parchi?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (45,517 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose parchi if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.