# Ladybird browser 155 Hacker News commenters recommended Ladybird browser and 93 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended as a truly independent browser engine built from scratch, outside corporate control, with fast monthly progress; it's still pre-alpha, slow and unreliable for daily use. ## Why people recommend it - Independent engine breaking browser monopolies (10 comments): "So good to see another independent browser engine around. I am watching their monthly progress videos on YT and it is quite amazing how well the project has evolved" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47890195)) "thankfully next generation of browsers are here - ladybug and servo, so at least something will survive even in the worst of the worst cases" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46019431)) "Safari, Firefox, and hopefully soon Ladybird are the only alternative browser engines keeping them somewhat honest on that front." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075944)) - Rapid, impressive development progress (5 comments): "So good to see another independent browser engine around. I am watching their monthly progress videos on YT and it is quite amazing how well the project has evolved" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47890195)) "It's far from being complete, but it clearly shows that you don't need an enormous budget to build a Web browser entirely from scratch" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46607201)) "Making incedible progress month after month using the language you started with seems pretty good too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47069490)) - Renders real sites better than Servo (3 comments): "Ladybird is further ahead than Servo, at least with what it can render and how correct it is. But Ladybird is a lot slower at this point." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46747662)) "their pre-alpha version was capable of running my extremely heavy JS+ SVG + worker thread + SSE app" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49604379)) "Ladybird is much further ahead in terms of actually rendering web pages that people use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47127130)) - Already usable for some browsing (4 comments): "depending on the sites you browse daily (like HN - which works fine), you might be able to use one of these as a daily-driver" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48302641)) "You can use it right now if you build it from source, in fact I am writing this HN comment from it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46291331)) "This comment is being written in Ladybird. I have managed GitHub projects in Ladybird." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47069798)) ## What people warn about - Slow performance (3 comments): "Ladybird is further ahead than Servo, at least with what it can render and how correct it is. But Ladybird is a lot slower at this point." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46747662)) "Biggest problem other than speed is that a lot of the “verify you are a human” checks do not work with it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47992224)) "The sites I looked at (without login or anything) basically all work fine but they are VERY slow." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568861)) - Unreliable, not ready for daily use (3 comments): "But the biggest problem is reliability. I would not use it in its current form for anything that matters." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410285)) "Ladybird isn’t usable right now, and if it was usable, improving the memory safety would be a commendable goal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47123428)) "The latter seems to be just building a browser that's going to be crashy and not really work on the web" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49738668)) - Closed to outside contributions (4 comments): "something is off ever since they announced the decision to close the project to outside contributions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49602531)) "I think they're moving in the WebKit/Safari direction: open for you to look at, but not really an open source project." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48409752)) "It's understandable that a team without much funding would have to close off contributions to spare on labor costs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410067)) - Concerns about creator's conduct (4 comments): "Kling loudly shouting "I support the free speech rights of fascists but get away from me with that DEI shit" doesn't give me warm fuzzies about using Ladybird" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47998579)) "The moment you make any statement that they perceive as "criticism" is the moment their code of conduct kicks in and locks you out." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46943495)) "I've heard enough about their past behaviour from separate independent sources to know I'd never use Ladybird" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48228955)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Chromium](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chromium.md): 126 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Ladybird browser", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ladybird-browser/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).