head to head · open source
anime vs OpenPencil
anime has 72,899 GitHub stars, 4,929 forks, 118 open issues and last shipped 29 days ago. OpenPencil has 8,369 stars, 815 forks, 46 open issues and last shipped yesterday. anime leads on adoption by 771% (72,899 vs 8,369 stars). anime is written in JavaScript under MIT; OpenPencil is written in TypeScript under MIT. anime has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, OpenPencil 10%. OpenPencil was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | OpenPencil | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 8.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-21 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.9K | ⑂ 815 |
| 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 OpenPencil if
- You want the OpenPencil feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and OpenPencil 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 OpenPencil
OpenPencil is an open source, AI native design editor that opens and writes native Figma .fig and Pencil .pen files, runs as a roughly 7 MB desktop app or in the browser, and is aimed at designers and developers who want a local, fully programmable alternative to Figma.
read the full OpenPencil overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is anime or OpenPencil more popular?
anime has 72,899 GitHub stars and OpenPencil has 8,369. anime has the larger community by that measure.
Are anime and OpenPencil free?
Both are open source. anime is licensed under MIT and OpenPencil under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between anime and OpenPencil?
anime is written in JavaScript and OpenPencil in TypeScript. 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 OpenPencil?
Choose anime if you want the larger community (72,899 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose OpenPencil if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.