head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs terminal-browser
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars, 1,946 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. terminal-browser has 4,389 stars, 216 forks, 64 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 937% (45,517 vs 4,389 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; terminal-browser is written in TypeScript under MIT. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, terminal-browser 5%. terminal-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 | terminal-browser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 216 |
| 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 terminal-browser if
- You want the terminal-browser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and terminal-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 terminal-browser
terminal browser A real browser that runs inside your terminal Installation curl (macOS & Linux): Note: Run terminal browser upgrade to upgrade versions Homebrew Claude code plugin Install instructions here Usage Use cases: You can have a coding agent and website scoped to the same terminal tab Your agent has full access to interact with open terminal browsers, which gives your agent the capability to use the web You can ask an agent to make HTML plans and then open them inside terminal browser, which will automatically open in a split pane next to your agent terminal browser works over SSH, which allows you to…
read the full terminal-browser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or terminal-browser more popular?
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars and terminal-browser has 4,389. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and terminal-browser free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and terminal-browser under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and terminal-browser?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and terminal-browser 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 terminal-browser?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (45,517 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose terminal-browser if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.