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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Unconventional C library and web app server

If you want to write web apps in C with mainly server side html, this might be the project for you! I've been using/developing it for a project to sell photos/videos at surf camps. test site: https://beta.fluffyspork.com Highlights: * builds to a single AppImage for deployment * all code included that's not a standard linux library * mostly don't have to write html, generated with code There are many things in the currently private project that aren't yet moved to fu due to time.

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Unconventional C library and web app server launched in 2023; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1

    a lightweight web framework in c. Contribute to ashtonjamesd/lavandula development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    A little web server written in C for Linux. Supports: CGI, Reverse Proxy. Single threaded using I/O multiplexing (select).

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    Custom web server for my blog. Contribute to cozis/BlogTech development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4MP

    I have been working on this game somewhat sparsely for the past three years or so. However, it is still in a very early stage, and there is a lot of work to do. One of my friends encouraged me to post about it here, since he felt people might find interesting how I don’t use any libraries for it. The game can be played on a browser by virtue of WebAssembly. There are native ports using either MiniFB or SDL2, but you have to build those yourself. I decided to write the game in C because I feel like it is a simple language that a lot of people can understand well enough, and I didn’t think I…

    2023 · zamfofex.neocities.org · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    A little help for programmers, who wants to run C/C++ code in the browser. (This is my second attempt to show it, first time I got banned bcoz of my personal page domain, I don't really understand it why is is suspicious.)

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6
  7. 7
    Web2Desk▲503

    Turn your favorite websites into a desktop app in one click

    2018 · web2desk.io · its alternatives →

  8. 8LC

    I made a simple virtual machine that runs C in the browser.This project is made as an experiment to see if C can be learned easier if the lower level is covered in paralel. Sandbox: https://vasyop.github.io/miniC-hosting Tutorial part 1: https://vasyop.github.io/miniC-hosting/?0 More info: https://github.com/vasyop/miniC-hosting/blob/master/README.md Please support this project: https://github.com/vasyop/miniC-hosting/blob/master/support.md

    2019 · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    A modular web framework for C, inspired by kernel modules. Dynamically upload and compile C code at runtime to build REST APIs, WebSocket services, and more. Includes support for JSON (Jansson), SQLite, OpenSSL, and streaming large data efficiently. - joexbayer/c-web-modules

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    I love C and C++, but setting up projects can sometimes be a pain. Every time I wanted to start something new I'd spend the first hour writing CMakeLists.txt, figuring out find_package, copying boilerplate from my last project, and googling why my library isn't linking. By the time the project was actually set up I'd lost all momentum. So, I built Craft - a lightweight build and workflow tool for C and C++. Instead of writing CMake, your project configuration goes in a simple craft.toml: [project] name = "my_app" version = "0.1.0" language = "c" c_standard = 99 [build] type = "executable"…

    Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11UT

    Hey HN, I wanted to get more familiar with C programming, *nix socket programming and C compilation, so I wrote this "web" ""server"". It's running on a tiny SBC in my office, and there's as little as possible between you and it. Happy for you to try and break it, hopefully with something more interesting than a DoS though :) Please let me know if you find any issues.

    2025 · unsafehttp.benren.au · its alternatives →

  12. 12
    Render▲318

    Hey HN, I'm Anurag, founder and CEO of Render, a cloud for application developers. We've just launched Render Workflows, a way to define durable tasks by decorating plain TypeScript or Python functions and running them on Render without operating queues, worker pools, retry logic, and state management. Code example below [1]. The use cases we have in mind include agent loops, ETL/data pipelines, billing flows, and other long-running jobs. The model is simple: mark an existing function as a Task, deploy the repo as a Workflow, then trigger runs from your application code or via our API.…

    2019 · render.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Greetings, This is a link to our learning guide to make your own MCP server in C/C++ (with no other dependencies). If you wanted to make one from scratch but needed some insight into dealing with MCP messages: the I/O flow, JSON parsing, and request dispatch, grab the teaching version tagged mcp/teaching/v1.0.0 in the repository. The JSON parsing in C would have been a hurdle, but then there's this amusing story: Eric: "Let's create a helloWorld MCP server in C." Gemini: "That will be somewhat difficult, there are easier ways." Eric: "Why is it difficult??" (the second…

    2018 · ibm.github.io · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    This post is from a protected account.

    2021 · twitter.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    A simple way to write standalone C programs for i386 - luke8086/boot2c

    2019 · github.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    We’ve reached a major milestone in making any software run with WebAssembly. Thanks to the newest release of Wasmer (4.4) and the Wasmer JS SDK (0.8.0) ...

    2024 · wasmer.io · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    A high performance, middleware oriented C++14 http web framework please use matt-42/lithium instead - matt-42/silicon

    2015 · github.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Hi HN! Korean high school senior here, about to start CS in college. I built a browser engine from scratch in C++ to understand how browsers work. First time using C++, 8 weeks of development, lots of debugging—but it works! Features: - HTML parsing with error correction - CSS cascade and inheritance - Block/inline layout engine - Async image loading + caching - Link navigation + history Hardest parts: - String parsing(html, css) - Rendering - Image Caching & Layout Reflowing What I learned (beyond code): - Systematic debugging is crucial - Ship with known bugs rather than chase…

    Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    Tiny cross-platform webview library for C/C++. Uses WebKit (GTK/Cocoa) and Edge WebView2 (Windows). - webview/webview

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    Tiny cross-platform webview library for C/C++. Uses WebKit (GTK/Cocoa) and Edge WebView2 (Windows). - webview/webview

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    Asynchronous C networking library with HTTP server, WebSockets, reverse proxy, HTTP/2 gRPC client, TLS and event loop. - Softmotions/iwnet

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22RA

    I wanted to have a framework that would let me build web apps faster than ever before. I didn’t care if it was a little hacky or didn’t use best practices — I wanted to be able to get a multi-user application out the door in hours instead of months. I researched the CMS space for months before deciding to build something from scratch. My goal was to be 90% done building a web app once I had the static HTML and CSS finished. I’m not a big fan of building out API endpoints over and over again for every new app, fiddling with a database, or doing lots of config. What I ended up with was a…

    2020 · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Codebrowser homepage

    2016 · code.woboq.org · its alternatives →

  24. 24

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →