head to head · open source
Audacity vs RapidRAW
Audacity has 18,509 GitHub stars, 2,666 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. RapidRAW has 10,115 stars, 556 forks, 407 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Audacity leads on adoption by 83% (18,509 vs 10,115 stars). Audacity is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence; RapidRAW is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Audacity has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, RapidRAW 5%. RapidRAW 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 | RapidRAW | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 10K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 556 |
| 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 RapidRAW if
- You want the RapidRAW feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and RapidRAW 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 RapidRAW
RapidRAW is a free, AGPL 3.0 licensed, GPU accelerated RAW image editor for photographers who want a clean, fast, non destructive editing workflow, shipped as a package under 20 MB for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
read the full RapidRAW overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Audacity or RapidRAW more popular?
Audacity has 18,509 GitHub stars and RapidRAW has 10,115. Audacity has the larger community by that measure.
Are Audacity and RapidRAW free?
Both are open source. Audacity has no licence declared in this registry, and RapidRAW is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Audacity and RapidRAW?
Audacity is written in C++ and RapidRAW in TypeScript. 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 RapidRAW?
Choose Audacity if you want the larger community (18,509 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose RapidRAW if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.