head to head · open source
Audacity vs Krita
Audacity has 18,928 GitHub stars, 2,712 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Krita has 10,680 stars, 898 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Audacity leads on adoption by 77% (18,928 vs 10,680 stars). Audacity is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence; Krita is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Audacity has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, Krita 8%. Krita 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 | Krita | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 11K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 898 |
| 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 Krita if
- You want the Krita 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 Krita 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 Krita
Note: Nightly builds are not covered by this table atm Krita is a free and open source digital painting application. It is for artists who want to create professional work from start to end. Krita is used by comic book artists, illustrators, concept artists, matte and texture painters and in the digital VFX industry. If you are reading this on GitHub, be aware that this is just a mirror. Our real code repository is provided by KDE: Repository Status For branch: master User Manual Development Notes and Build Instructions Please follow the online documentation. Other developer guides, notes and wiki: Apidox: Bugs…
read the full Krita overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Audacity or Krita more popular?
Audacity has 18,928 GitHub stars and Krita has 10,680. Audacity has the larger community by that measure.
Are Audacity and Krita free?
Both are open source. Audacity has no licence declared in this registry, and Krita is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Audacity and Krita?
Audacity is written in C++ and Krita 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 Krita?
Choose Audacity if you want the larger community (18,928 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Krita if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.