head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs SingleFile
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars, 1,946 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SingleFile has 22,811 stars, 1,432 forks, 101 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 100% (45,517 vs 22,811 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; SingleFile is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, SingleFile 6%. SingleFile 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 | SingleFile | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 23K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| 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 SingleFile if
- You want the SingleFile feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and SingleFile 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 SingleFile
SingleFile SingleFile helps you to save a complete web page into a single HTML file. SingleFile is a Web Extension (and a CLI tool) compatible with Chrome, Firefox (Desktop and Mobile), Microsoft Edge, Safari, Vivaldi, Brave, Waterfox, Yandex browser, and Opera. Table of Contents SingleFile Table of Contents Demo Install Getting started Additional notes FAQ Release notes Known Issues and Troubleshooting Command Line Interface (SingleFile CLI) Integration with user scripts File format comparison Projects using/compatible with SingleFile Privacy Policy Contributors Code derived from third party projects Icons…
read the full SingleFile overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or SingleFile more popular?
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars and SingleFile has 22,811. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and SingleFile free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and SingleFile under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and SingleFile?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and SingleFile in JavaScript. 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 SingleFile?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (45,517 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose SingleFile if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.