head to head · open source
Audacity vs better-shot
Audacity has 18,928 GitHub stars, 2,712 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. better-shot has 2,431 stars, 148 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Audacity leads on adoption by 679% (18,928 vs 2,431 stars). Audacity is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence; better-shot is written in Swift under a custom or non-standard licence. Audacity has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, better-shot 6%. Audacity 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Audacity | better-shot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | C++ | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 148 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Audacity if
- You weight community size — 19K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick better-shot if
- You want the better-shot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and better-shot fits your workflow better
About Audacity
Audacity Audacity is an easy to use, multi track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. More info can be found on This repository is currently undergoing major structural change. We're currently working on Audacity 4, which means an entirely new UI and also refactorings aplenty. As such, the master branch is currently not particularly friendly to new contributors. It is still possible to submit patches to Audacity 3.x; make sure you branch off audacity3 if you choose to do so. Build instructions for 3.x can be found here; build instructions for Audacity 4 can be…
read the full Audacity overview →
About better-shot
BetterShot One app for the whole screen. Screenshots, screen recording, and a video editor, native on macOS. An open source alternative to CleanShot X and Loom with no subscription, no account, and no telemetry. Nothing leaves your Mac unless you share it, and shares go to storage you own. Features Screenshots: region, fullscreen, and window capture with macOS's native selector. OCR text extraction and hex color picker included. Screenshot saving: Copy is clipboard only for every capture mode and in the editor. Screenshots stay in private working storage until you choose Save or Export; editor Save also works…
read the full better-shot overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Photo & Video Editors projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Photo & Video Editors field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Audacity or better-shot more popular?
Audacity has 18,928 GitHub stars and better-shot has 2,431. Audacity has the larger community by that measure.
Are Audacity and better-shot free?
Neither Audacity nor better-shot declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Audacity and better-shot?
Audacity is written in C++ and better-shot in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Audacity or better-shot?
Choose Audacity if you want the larger community (18,928 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose better-shot if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.