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Ladybird vs Waterfox

Learn how Ladybird and Waterfox differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these tools is best for you.

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Favicon of Ladybird

Ladybird

Open source web browser with its own engine, built from scratch without Blink, WebKit, or Gecko. Non-profit backed, no search deals, no user monetization.
65,823stars+1,150(+1.8%)

Last 30 days

Sponsor Ladybird onopencollective.com
Screenshot of Ladybird
Favicon of Waterfox

Waterfox

Firefox-based browser with built-in ad blocking, oblivious DNS, zero telemetry, tree-style tabs, and no AI features sending your data anywhere.
6,189stars+128(+2.1%)

Last 30 days

Screenshot of Waterfox

Detailed Comparison

Both Ladybird and Waterfox have their unique strengths and serve similar purposes effectively. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.

Ladybird wins
Community & Popularity

Ladybird significantly outpaces Waterfox in community adoption with 65,823 stars compared to 6,189 stars on GitHub. This 10.6x difference suggests Ladybird has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Ladybird has 3,134 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

Waterfox wins
Growth Momentum

Waterfox is growing faster, adding 128 stars in the last 30 days (+2.1%) against adding 1,150 stars for Ladybird (+1.8%). Waterfox is the smaller project of the two, so it is closing the gap rather than extending a lead.

Comparable
Development Activity

Both projects show recent activity, with Ladybird last updated 11 hours ago and Waterfox 5 days ago.

Waterfox wins
Project Maturity

Waterfox has been in development longer, starting 12 years ago, compared to Ladybird which began 2 years ago. This 9.8-year head start suggests Waterfox may have more mature features and established processes.

Ladybird wins
Licensing

Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause, while Waterfox's license terms are not publicly specified.

Comparable
Use Cases & Features

Ladybird also focuses on Web Browsers.