[opensourcedex]

Helium is a free, open source browsers & extensions project written in C++ and released under GPL-3.0. It has 20,739 GitHub stars, 579 forks and 490 open issues, and was last pushed 4 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #20 of 65 tracked projects in Browsers & Extensions, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 151 stars over the last 6 tracked days.

Helium — Privacy-first browser with ad-blocking and no bloat

What is Helium?

What it is

Helium is an open-source desktop web browser built around the Chromium project. It lives in the Chromium browser ecosystem and is published as a C++ project under the GPL-3.0 license, with imported code retaining its original license. The project describes itself as private, fast, and honest, and as a privacy-first browser with ad-blocking and no bloat.

The concrete problem it addresses is the gap between mainstream Chromium browsers and privacy-conscious users who want a browser that is not bloated and still supports ad-blocking. Helium is based on ungoogled-chromium, but the README says it has been heavily modified for Helium. It also incorporates patches from other open-source Chromium browsers, including Inox, Debian, Bromite, Iridium Browser, and Brave. The browser is currently in beta, so unexpected issues may occur.

Key capabilities

  • Helium is a Chromium-based web browser, so it uses the Chromium project as its core.
  • It is described as privacy-first and includes unbiased ad-blocking as part of its stated purpose.
  • It is built from a heavily modified ungoogled-chromium base.
  • It includes vendor-sorted patches from other open-source Chromium browsers.
  • It provides beta downloads for macOS, Linux, and Windows through platform-specific release repositories.
  • The main download site can select a compatible binary automatically for the user's platform.
  • Helium's packaging, tooling, services, onboarding, and a fork of uBlock Origin are open source on GitHub.

Who uses it and how

  • Privacy-conscious desktop users can install Helium as a beta browser on macOS, Linux, or Windows.
  • Users who prefer automatic platform selection can download from helium.computer, while users who need specific release artifacts can use GitHub releases.
  • Beta users are expected to report unexpected issues if they have not already been reported.
  • Community contributors can follow the development documentation in the macOS repository, and Linux packaging includes a similar development script.
  • Developers working on the broader project can inspect or contribute to separate repositories for macOS, Linux, Windows, services, onboarding, and the uBlock fork.

Getting started

The typical install method is to download Helium from helium.computer, which selects a compatible binary automatically, or to use the latest macOS, Linux, or Windows releases on GitHub. For building or contributing, the README points to the development docs in the macOS repository and notes that Linux packaging has a similar development script.

When to use it — and when not to

Helium is suitable for users who want a privacy-first, Chromium-based browser and are willing to accept beta software, since unexpected issues may occur. It is less suitable for users who need a fully stable browser or who do not want to depend on a heavily modified Chromium and ungoogled-chromium base.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Helium

The Chromium-based web browser made for people, with love.
Privacy-first with unbiased ad-blocking. No bloat and no noise.

helium.computer

Downloads

[!NOTE] Helium is currently in beta, so unexpected issues may occur. Please report them if they haven't already been reported.

The easiest way to download Helium is helium.computer. It'll pick a compatible binary for your platform automatically.

The same releases can also be downloaded from source on GitHub:

Helium repos

All Helium packaging, tooling, services, and components are open source and published on GitHub.

Platform packaging and tooling

Web services and Helium components

Development

macOS is our primary development platform, so it's the recommended development environment for community contributions.

Linux packaging includes a similar development script, so the same guide can be applied there too.

> See development docs in macOS repo

Contributing

Before contributing to Helium, please read the guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Credits

The Chromium project

The Chromium Project is at the core of Helium, making it possible in the first place.

ungoogled-chromium

This repo is based on ungoogled-chromium, but heavily modified for Helium. Special thanks to everyone behind ungoogled-chromium, they made working with Chromium way easier.

Other Chromium browsers

Helium includes some patches from other open source Chromium browsers:

All patches are sorted by vendor in the patches directory of this repo.

License

All code, patches, modified portions of imported code or patches, and any other content that is unique to Helium and not imported from other repositories is licensed under GPL-3.0. See LICENSE.

Any content imported from other projects retains its original license (for example, any original unmodified code imported from ungoogled-chromium remains licensed under their BSD 3-Clause license).

Frequently asked questions

Is Helium free to use?

Helium is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Helium do?

Privacy-first browser with ad-blocking and no bloat

What is Helium written in?

Helium is primarily written in C++. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/imputnet/helium, and it has 20,739 GitHub stars.