head to head · open source
sharp vs Darktable
sharp has 32,695 GitHub stars, 1,437 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Darktable has 13,106 stars, 1,434 forks, 678 open issues and last shipped today. sharp leads on adoption by 149% (32,695 vs 13,106 stars). sharp is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; Darktable is written in C under GPL-3.0. sharp has attracted 4% 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
| sharp | Darktable | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 13K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick sharp if
- You weight community size — 33K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- 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 sharp
sharp is a high performance Node.js image processing library that converts large images in common formats into smaller, web friendly JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF and AVIF files, and it is built for JavaScript developers who need fast, dependency light resizing inside Node.js, Deno or Bun applications.
read the full sharp overview →
About Darktable
Darktable is an open source photography workflow application and non destructive raw developer. It acts as a virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers, and it lives in the open source photography ecosystem as a C project licensed under the GPL 3.0. It manages digital negatives in a database, lets a user view them through a zoomable lighttable, and supports raw development, enhancement, and export to local or remote storage.
read the full Darktable overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is sharp or Darktable more popular?
sharp has 32,695 GitHub stars and Darktable has 13,106. sharp has the larger community by that measure.
Are sharp and Darktable free?
Both are open source. sharp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Darktable under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between sharp and Darktable?
sharp is written in JavaScript 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, sharp or Darktable?
Choose sharp if you want the larger community (32,695 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Darktable if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.