carbonyl vs ladybird
Terminal browser compared with an independent web engine
carbonyl runs Chromium in a terminal, while ladybird is building a browser around its own web engine. carbonyl focuses on using modern web pages without a window server; ladybird focuses on developing an alternative browser engine and is currently pre-alpha.
carbonyl: Browse the Web from a Terminal
Carbonyl runs Chromium in a terminal, rendering modern web pages without a window server and supporting JavaScript and media. It suits terminal users who need a full browser, but its development has been inactive and releases have stalled.
ladybird: Build an Independent Web Browser
Ladybird is an independent browser project built around its own web engine, rather than an existing browser engine. It is aimed at developers and contributors today, since the project describes its pre-alpha software as suitable only for developers.
| carbonyl | ladybird | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Rust | C++ |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | BSD-2-Clause |
| Stars | 19.5k | 66.5k |
| Forks | 584 | 3.2k |
| Last analyzed | Oct 7, 2026 | Oct 14, 2026 |
Key differences
- carbonyl is a terminal-based Chromium browser; ladybird is a browser built around an independent engine based on web standards.
- carbonyl is written in Rust and uses a modified Chromium headless-shell runtime; ladybird is written in C++ and has a multi-process design with sandboxed renderer processes.
- carbonyl supports modern web APIs, JavaScript, WebAssembly, and media; ladybird is pre-alpha and does not claim complete modern-web support.
- carbonyl offers Docker, npm, and prebuilt binary installation paths; ladybird is aimed at developers willing to build it themselves.
- carbonyl is inactive, with no commits or releases in over a year; ladybird has strong recent development activity but no release in the past year.
- carbonyl uses the BSD-3-Clause license; ladybird uses the BSD-2-Clause license.
Choose carbonyl if you…
- need to browse modern websites from a terminal or over SSH without a window server.
- want Chromium-based JavaScript and media support in a terminal workflow.
- can work with an inactive project and verify that its build or distribution suits your environment.
Choose ladybird if you…
- want to study or contribute to an independent web engine.
- are exploring multi-process browser architecture or testing web behavior outside established engines.
- are willing to build and use pre-alpha software rather than rely on a daily-use browser.
Compare the numbers side by side, or add more projects
This comparison is generated with AI from the OSRepos analyses of both projects. Always check each project's repository and documentation before choosing.