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Nordstjernen vs NetSurf: catalog facts
Nordstjernen	NetSurf
Free Free to download; the source is available but not under an open-source licence.	Free Free and open source under the GPL version 2.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS	macOS, Linux
Independent engine not based on Chromium, Gecko or WebKit Development tracked against the HTML specification	Very small and light on resources Independent layout engine written in C
Source-available rather than open source; Northstar is the GPL sibling A from-scratch engine may not render every site correctly	Limited support for modern script-heavy websites Not a replacement for a mainstream browser on current sites
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Closed source	Open source
License: Source-available	License: GPL-2.0
No account needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.