head to head · open source
deckcraft vs KillerPDF
deckcraft has 4,529 GitHub stars, 2,613 forks, 115 open issues and last shipped yesterday. KillerPDF has 4,289 stars, 342 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped yesterday. deckcraft leads on adoption by 6% (4,529 vs 4,289 stars). deckcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; KillerPDF is written in C# under GPL-3.0. deckcraft has attracted 58% as many forks as stars, KillerPDF 8%. KillerPDF 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
| deckcraft | KillerPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.5K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 342 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick deckcraft if
- You weight community size — 4.5K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick KillerPDF if
- You want the KillerPDF 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 KillerPDF fits your workflow better
About deckcraft
DeckCraft Presentations and slide shows; an open source, clean room reimplementation of Microsoft PowerPoint, rebuilt in pure Rust. Build decks with themes, layouts, shapes, pictures, tables, charts, transitions and animations, open and save PowerPoint files, and present them full screen. Native on macOS, Windows, Linux and FreeBSD, and in the browser. Every button is also a command that the CLI and AI agents (through MCP) can drive. DeckCraft on getartcraft.com · ArtCraft · All Crafting Apps [!NOTE] ArtCraft is a community of artists from all walks of life. Painters, photographers, filmmakers, illustrators…
read the full deckcraft overview →
About KillerPDF
KillerPDF is a free, open source PDF editor for Windows. View, annotate, OCR, merge, split, edit text, draw, sign, fill forms, print, flatten, and open password protected PDFs without an Adobe subscription. Choose the compact Windows installer or the self contained portable edition. Document processing stays on your computer, with no telemetry. Full how tos live on the help page; internals, formats, and limits on the technical page. The KillerPDF.Engine KillerPDF 1.8 introduces The KillerPDF.Engine, an independent and reusable .NET library for PDF 2.0, PDF/A, and PDF/UA document processing. It is a first class…
read the full KillerPDF overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is deckcraft or KillerPDF more popular?
deckcraft has 4,529 GitHub stars and KillerPDF has 4,289. deckcraft has the larger community by that measure.
Are deckcraft and KillerPDF free?
Both are open source. deckcraft is licensed under Apache-2.0 and KillerPDF under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between deckcraft and KillerPDF?
deckcraft is written in Rust and KillerPDF 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, deckcraft or KillerPDF?
Choose deckcraft if you want the larger community (4,529 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose KillerPDF if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.