Skip to main content
Helium is built on top of ungoogled-chromium, which itself is based on the Chromium project. This page explains what these foundations provide and why they matter.

​
What is Chromium?

Chromium is the open-source browser project that forms the foundation of many browsers including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, and others.
Chromium ≠ Chrome: Chromium is the open-source project. Chrome is Google’s proprietary browser built on top of Chromium with additional Google services.

​
What Chromium Provides

Blink Rendering Engine

Fast, modern HTML/CSS rendering

V8 JavaScript Engine

High-performance JavaScript execution

Web Platform APIs

Complete implementation of web standards

Security Sandbox

Multi-process isolation architecture

​
What is ungoogled-chromium?

ungoogled-chromium is a modified version of Chromium that removes Google-specific integration and enhances privacy.
Helium is proudly based on ungoogled-chromium. It wouldn’t be possible to get rid of Google’s bloat and establish a development pipeline this quickly without it.

​
Key Modifications by ungoogled-chromium

  • Removes Google API keys requirement
  • Strips out Google services integration
  • Eliminates telemetry and crash reporting
  • Removes Google account sync infrastructure
  • Disables automatic connections to Google services
  • Removes tracking identifiers
  • Eliminates Google-specific telemetry
  • Blocks pre-connections and DNS prefetching to Google domains
  • Provides reproducible build configurations
  • Creates portable binaries
  • Maintains compatibility with Chromium extensions

​
Helium’s Additions

Helium takes the ungoogled-chromium foundation and adds:
1

Privacy-First Design

Enhanced fingerprinting protection, default privacy settings, and noise injection for canvas/audio APIs.
2

Modern UI

Completely redesigned interface with compact layouts, custom theming, and streamlined controls.
3

Optional Services

Privacy-respecting backend services for updates, extensions, and features - all opt-in and self-hostable.
4

Built-in Ad Blocking

uBlock Origin integrated as a component with optimized defaults.

​
Licensing

The licensing structure reflects the multi-layer architecture:
The core Chromium project is licensed under a BSD-style license, allowing modification and redistribution.
ungoogled-chromium’s modifications are licensed under the BSD 3-Clause license:
BSD 3-Clause License

Copyright (c) 2015-2026, The ungoogled-chromium Authors
All rights reserved.
Source: ~/workspace/source/LICENSE.ungoogled_chromium
All Helium-specific code, patches, and modifications are licensed under GPL-3.0:
  • All patches in patches/helium/
  • Custom components in components/helium_*
  • Helium-specific UI modifications
  • Build system customizations
Imported code from other projects (like ungoogled-chromium) retains its original license.

​
Version Alignment

Helium tracks Chromium stable releases:
1

Chromium Release

Google releases a new Chromium stable version
2

ungoogled-chromium Update

ungoogled-chromium project updates their patches for the new version
3

Helium Integration

Helium updates its patches and tests compatibility
4

Platform Builds

Each platform repository builds and releases Helium for their OS
This ensures Helium users get the latest security updates and web platform features while maintaining privacy enhancements.

​
Technical Stack

// Helium uses the same stack as Chromium
// ~20 million lines of C++ code
// Including Blink, V8, and browser UI

​
Dependencies

Helium inherits Chromium’s dependencies:
  • Ninja: Fast build system
  • GN: Build file generator
  • Clang/LLVM: Compiler toolchain
  • Python 3: Build scripts
  • Node.js: WebUI build tools

​
Comparison Matrix

FeatureChromiumungoogled-chromiumHelium
Google Services✅ Integrated❌ Removed❌ Removed
Telemetry✅ Enabled❌ Disabled❌ Disabled
Sync✅ Google Sync❌ None❌ None
Auto-updates✅ Google servers❌ None⚙️ Optional (Helium services)
Extension updates✅ Web Store❌ None⚙️ Optional (Helium services)
Ad blocking❌ None❌ None✅ Built-in (uBlock Origin)
UI customization🔵 Standard🔵 Standard🟢 Heavily customized
Fingerprinting protection🟡 Basic🟡 Basic🟢 Enhanced
Default privacy🔴 Weak🟡 Better🟢 Strong

​
Why This Matters

By building on ungoogled-chromium, Helium:

Maintains Compatibility

Works with Chromium extensions and web standards

Gets Security Updates

Benefits from Chromium’s security team

Avoids Reinventing

Focuses on privacy UX, not building a browser engine

Stays Independent

No dependency on Google services or infrastructure

​
Contributing Upstream

Helium intends to contribute improvements back to ungoogled-chromium where applicable.
Contributions may include:
  • Additional privacy patches
  • Build system improvements
  • Documentation enhancements
  • Platform-specific fixes

​
Next Steps

Architecture Overview

See how Helium builds on this foundation

Helium Services

Learn about Helium’s privacy-respecting services

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us