head to head · open source
Audacity vs GIMP
Audacity has 18,928 GitHub stars, 2,712 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. GIMP has 6,560 stars, 915 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Audacity leads on adoption by 189% (18,928 vs 6,560 stars). Audacity is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence; GIMP is written in C under a custom or non-standard licence. Audacity has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, GIMP 14%. GIMP 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 | GIMP | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 6.6K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | C++ | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 915 |
| 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 GIMP if
- You want the GIMP feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and GIMP 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 GIMP
GNU Image Manipulation Program 3.3 Development Branch This is an unstable development release in the GIMP 3.3 series. If you think you found a bug in this version, please make sure that it hasn't been reported earlier and report it! If you want to hack on GIMP, please read the file devel docs/README.md. For detailed installation instructions, see the file INSTALL. 1. Web Resources ================ GIMP's home page is at: Please be sure to visit this site for information, documentation, tutorials, news, etc. All things GIMP ish are available from there. The latest version of GIMP can be found at: We also have a…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Audacity or GIMP more popular?
Audacity has 18,928 GitHub stars and GIMP has 6,560. Audacity has the larger community by that measure.
Are Audacity and GIMP free?
Neither Audacity nor GIMP 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 GIMP?
Audacity is written in C++ and GIMP 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 GIMP?
Choose Audacity if you want the larger community (18,928 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose GIMP if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.