head to head · open source
anime vs LibreSprite
anime has 73,214 GitHub stars, 4,948 forks, 118 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. LibreSprite has 8,469 stars, 581 forks, 104 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. anime leads on adoption by 764% (73,214 vs 8,469 stars). anime is written in JavaScript under MIT; LibreSprite is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. anime has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, LibreSprite 7%. LibreSprite was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (animation), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| anime | LibreSprite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 8.5K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-08-21 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.9K | ⑂ 581 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick anime if
- You weight community size — 73K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick LibreSprite if
- You want the LibreSprite feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and LibreSprite fits your workflow better
About anime
Anime.js is a free, MIT licensed JavaScript animation engine for developers who need to animate CSS properties, SVG, DOM attributes, and plain JavaScript objects from a single lightweight API.
read the full anime overview →
About LibreSprite
LibreSprite is a free and open source animated sprite editor and pixel art tool for artists, animators and game developers who want a GPL licensed program for drawing and animating sprites.
read the full LibreSprite overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is anime or LibreSprite more popular?
anime has 73,214 GitHub stars and LibreSprite has 8,469. anime has the larger community by that measure.
Are anime and LibreSprite free?
Both are open source. anime is licensed under MIT and LibreSprite under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between anime and LibreSprite?
anime is written in JavaScript and LibreSprite in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, anime or LibreSprite?
Choose anime if you want the larger community (73,214 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose LibreSprite if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.