They are shooting for an alpha release in summer 2026. But that sounds pretty ambitious.
It is possible to test now, but probably not very useful at this point since its so far off from even an alpha release (especially considering they might be rewriting Ladybird in another language). There are some youtube videos that’ll give a rough idea of where they currently are. Brodie Robertson has a decent high level overview of Ladybird, this other video shows the current state of Ladybird in more depth, but is a bit premature in some of its criticisms in my eyes.
One thing I’m curious about is whether any of the 7 current developers have expertise specifically on security and privacy. This would be a positive signal to me, The attractiveness of a hypothetical new browser engine to me, is in large part that it could be designed with privacy and security at its core, from the start, and by design. Prioritizing security and privacy from the start could pay big dividends down the road, as it seems it is often a lot harder and a lot slower to make changes after the fact once you are constrained by the sum of all your previous design decisions.
I checked this and they’re saying: “We are targeting Summer 2026 for a first Alpha version on Linux and macOS. This will be aimed at developers and early adopters.”
However, they also say it won’t be available for Windows PC’s…
Ladybird will never be popular or recommended. If Microsoft couldn’t even maintain a browser engine, what makes anyone think a small team of 7 developers can?
I’m not saying that the project isn’t good - on the contrary, it’s an excellent project - except that it will create even more competition in the market for privacy-friendly browsers, which will further fragment other projects like Firefox, Brave, Tor and Mullvad.
This is a horrifically flawed argument. Competition is always a good thing as it drives companies to make their products better for everyone.
On the issue/subject of a fractioning market, honestly the privacy browser front is mostly just Brave, and various forms of hardened Firefox. There are some outliers like vanadium, cromite, etc. but again, those are outliers. Chrome controls so much of the market that there really isn’t competition anymore. We NEED a new browser engine to try and mix things up again. That or Firefox needs to get their heads out of their asses and actually start competing.
They could have if they wanted to, but some beancounter decided that it’s cheaper to just use Google’s programmers for free and that there are not enough long-term strategic benefits of having your own engine.
I just added the waiting tag to this thread so that it’s clear that Ladybird is still in its infancy and, as @Rasta clarified, something worth keeping an eye on.
This is literally a forum for people online. While the main focus is privacy and security. I feel like as long as the subject/product we’re discussing relates to those topics, and is pertinent to the thread we are within, we can spend our time talking about whatever we want.
This thread could become the main point of updates for the community as to what Ladybird is doing and where it’s heading. We have threads for other services that have been open for multiple years and still get updates. Please don’t imply it’s a waste of time keeping up with developing products.
Never say never; the browser market share has changed dramatically in the last 15 years, and it could absolutely change again. Supporting these types of projects can only help. Browser Market Share Worldwide | Statcounter Global Stats
We genuinely need a new browser and browser engine, as the future doesn’t seem promising for either Chromium or Gecko. I’m not sure if Ladybird is the right answer, but I really hope it works out.
I hope it makes progress, as it would be nice to have more choice.
On Linux, there’s only something Chromium-based or Firefox-based. That’s it. Having a third option would be great.
They will struggle, as there is so much other stuff out there that requires an established browser. For example, I have a phone app (which I don’t want but need to use for something), which tells its users that it will only work in combination with Chrome or Safari.
It turns out that it will work with Brave, so I have a decent solution. They should really tell users it will work with any Chromium-based app, but they can’t be bothered and they don’t care.
I think Ladybird will struggle with this, when people keep getting told that the thing they want to use requires a major browser. But I would love to see them being successful.