Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Servo VS Goanna

Compare Servo VS Goanna and see what are their differences

Servo logo Servo

PHP builder application which uses a combination of a powerful editor and drag & drop to make...

Goanna logo Goanna

Goanna is the name for the Open Source layout and rendering engine as used in Unified XUL Platform (UXP) applications like the Pale Moon web browser and the Interlink mail/news client.
  • Servo Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-20
  • Goanna Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-11-29

Servo features and specs

  • High-Performance
    Servo is designed to take advantage of modern hardware architectures, making it potentially faster in rendering web pages compared to some other engines.
  • Parallelization
    Servo is built to run web elements in parallel, utilizing multicore processors to enhance performance efficiency and speed.
  • Memory Safety
    Written in Rust, Servo benefits from Rust's memory safety features, helping to prevent common programming bugs like buffer overflows and null pointer dereferences.
  • Modularity
    Servo is developed as a collection of independent libraries, which promotes easy testing, maintenance, and potential reuse in various projects.

Possible disadvantages of Servo

  • Incomplete Feature Set
    Servo, being an experimental browser engine, does not yet support all web standards and features that mature engines like Blink or Gecko support.
  • Stability
    As a project in active development, Servo might not be as stable as mainstream engines, which may impact its reliability for everyday use.
  • Limited Adoption
    Due to its experimental nature and ongoing development, Servo has limited adoption in the industry, resulting in less community support and fewer real-world testing scenarios.
  • Compatibility
    Websites optimized for engines like Webkit or Blink might encounter unexpected issues or rendering problems on Servo due to differences in implementation.

Goanna features and specs

  • Customizable
    Goanna is highly customizable, allowing developers to modify and extend its functionality to meet specific needs.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, Goanna provides transparency and flexibility, enabling developers to review, modify, and distribute the source code.
  • Optimized for Performance
    Goanna is designed to be lightweight and fast, providing efficient browsing experiences for users.
  • Privacy-focused
    Goanna emphasizes user privacy and security, reducing the collection of personal data and implementing features that protect user information.

Possible disadvantages of Goanna

  • Limited Adoption
    Goanna is not as widely adopted as other rendering engines, which can lead to limited community support and resources.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Some modern web features may not be fully supported by Goanna, potentially causing rendering issues on certain websites.
  • Fewer Integrated Services
    Compared to more mainstream engines, Goanna might lack integration with popular services and extensions that are common among users.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Servo and Goanna)
Web Browsers
82 82%
18% 18
Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Code Analysis
0 0%
100% 100
Web Development Tools
81 81%
19% 19

User comments

Share your experience with using Servo and Goanna. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Servo seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 65 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Servo mentions (65)

  • The time is right for a DOM templating API
    It's also the case that every feature in web standards means extra code that needs to be painstakingly maintained, and extra code that anyone trying to create a standards-compliant browser must implement. I want to see projects like https://servo.org/ actually have a chance to catch up over time, not always be chasing an expanding scope. I want the web platform to have every possible capability that native... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Trust in Firefox and Mozilla Is Gone โ€“ Let's Talk Alternatives
    Yes, it was revived by Igalia, and has good momentum. Check https://servo.org. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Trust in Firefox and Mozilla Is Gone โ€“ Let's Talk Alternatives
    I canโ€™t wait until Servo has spun up sufficiently. https://servo.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • An Update on Mozilla's Terms of Use for Firefox
    Though not yet ready for the public don't forget the promising https://servo.org. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Waterfox: Fast and Private Web Browser
    I understand that people need alternatives that work now but please consider contributing your developer expertise and/or donating to Ladybird[0] / Servo[1]. We need to get away from our current engine monoculture of Chromium/Gecko (yes I know webkit exists) [0]: https://ladybird.org [1]: https://servo.org. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
View more

Goanna mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Goanna yet. Tracking of Goanna recommendations started around Nov 2024.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Servo and Goanna, you can also consider the following products

Blink Rendering Engine - Blink is the rendering engine used by Chromium / Chrome / Edge

WebKit - WebKit is a layout engine designed to allow web browsers to render web pages.

qutebrowser - An actively developped, keyboard-focused browser with a minimal GUI, inspired by other...

KHTML - KHTML is a web-based rendering engine that is entirely based on the KParts technology; widely used by common browsers including Microsoft edge, Chrome, Safari, Google Chrome, Opera, and many more.

WebKitGTK+ - WebKitGTK+ is the port of the portable web rendering engine WebKit to the GTK+ platform.

Nyxt Browser - Extensible, keyboard-oriented web-browser for power users.