head to head · open source
Audacity vs Kdenlive
Audacity has 18,465 GitHub stars, 2,671 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kdenlive has 5,701 stars, 513 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Audacity leads on adoption by 224% (18,465 vs 5,701 stars). Audacity is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence; Kdenlive is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Audacity has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, Kdenlive 9%. Kdenlive 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 | Kdenlive | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 5.7K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 513 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Audacity if
- You weight community size — 18K 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 Kdenlive if
- You want the Kdenlive 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 Kdenlive fits your workflow better
About Audacity
Audacity is an open source audio editor and recorder written in C++ and distributed under free software terms. It lives in the open source desktop audio editing ecosystem, where it provides a multi track interface for recording and editing audio on Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. The README describes the project as an easy to use audio tool, and the repository contains both the Audacity 3.x line and the in progress Audacity 4 line.
read the full Audacity overview →
About Kdenlive
Kdenlive is a free and open source video editor written in C++, released under the GPL 3.0 license, and developed as part of the KDE ecosystem. It builds on the MLT framework for its editing and playback engine, uses Qt and KDE Frameworks 6 for its graphical interface, and draws on frei0r for video effects and LADSPA for audio effects. The project lives within KDE's development infrastructure, with its primary repository hosted on KDE Invent and a GitHub mirror maintained for visibility, and it is distributed through the official kdenlive.org website.
read the full Kdenlive overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Audacity or Kdenlive more popular?
Audacity has 18,465 GitHub stars and Kdenlive has 5,701. Audacity has the larger community by that measure.
Are Audacity and Kdenlive free?
Both are open source. Audacity has no licence declared in this registry, and Kdenlive is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Audacity and Kdenlive?
Audacity is written in C++ and Kdenlive 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 Kdenlive?
Choose Audacity if you want the larger community (18,465 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Kdenlive if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.