head to head · open source
Audacity vs Darktable
Audacity has 18,928 GitHub stars, 2,712 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Darktable has 13,383 stars, 1,506 forks, 678 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Audacity leads on adoption by 41% (18,928 vs 13,383 stars). Audacity is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence; Darktable is written in C under GPL-3.0. Audacity has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, Darktable 11%. Darktable 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
| Audacity | Darktable | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 13K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| 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 Darktable if
- You want the Darktable feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and Darktable 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 Darktable
darktable ========= darktable is an open source photography workflow application and non destructive raw developer a virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable lighttable and enables you to develop raw images, enhance them and export them to local or remote storage. darktable is not a free Adobe® Lightroom® replacement. Table of Contents 1. Documentation 2. Website 3. Requirements Supported platforms Hardware AI features (optional) 4. Installing Latest release Development snapshot 5. Updating from older versions 6…
read the full Darktable overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Audacity or Darktable more popular?
Audacity has 18,928 GitHub stars and Darktable has 13,383. Audacity has the larger community by that measure.
Are Audacity and Darktable free?
Both are open source. Audacity has no licence declared in this registry, and Darktable is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Audacity and Darktable?
Audacity is written in C++ and Darktable 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, Audacity or Darktable?
Choose Audacity if you want the larger community (18,928 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Darktable if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.