head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs OBS Studio
Excalidraw has 135,053 GitHub stars, 15,973 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OBS Studio has 78,841 stars, 11,037 forks, 1,148 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 71% (135,053 vs 78,841 stars). Excalidraw is written in TypeScript under MIT; OBS Studio is written in C under GPL-2.0. Excalidraw has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, OBS Studio 14%. OBS Studio 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Excalidraw | OBS Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 135K | ★ 79K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 11K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Excalidraw if
- You weight community size — 135K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OBS Studio if
- You want the OBS Studio feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and OBS Studio fits your workflow better
About Excalidraw
Excalidraw Editor Blog Documentation Excalidraw+ An open source virtual hand drawn style whiteboard. Collaborative and end to end encrypted. Create beautiful hand drawn like diagrams, wireframes, or whatever you like. Features The Excalidraw editor (npm package) supports: 💯 Free & open source. 🎨 Infinite, canvas based whiteboard. ✍️ Hand drawn like style. 🌓 Dark mode. 🏗️ Customizable. 📷 Image support. 😀 Shape libraries support. 🌐 Localization (i18n) support. 🖼️ Export to PNG, SVG & clipboard. 💾 Open format export drawings as an .excalidraw json file. ⚒️ Wide range of tools rectangle, circle, diamond…
read the full Excalidraw overview →
About OBS Studio
OBS Studio =================================== .. image:: :alt: OBS Studio Build Status GitHub Actions :target: .. image:: :alt: OBS Studio Translation Project Progress :target: .. image:: :alt: OBS Studio Discord Server :target: What is OBS Studio? OBS Studio is software designed for capturing, compositing, encoding, recording, and streaming video content, efficiently. It's distributed under the GNU General Public License v2 (or any later version) see the accompanying COPYING file for more details. Quick Links Website: Help/Documentation/Guides: Forums: Build Instructions: Developer/API Documentation…
read the full OBS Studio overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Design & Visualization projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Design & Visualization field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or OBS Studio more popular?
Excalidraw has 135,053 GitHub stars and OBS Studio has 78,841. Excalidraw has the larger community by that measure.
Are Excalidraw and OBS Studio free?
Both are open source. Excalidraw is licensed under MIT and OBS Studio under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Excalidraw and OBS Studio?
Excalidraw is written in TypeScript and OBS Studio 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, Excalidraw or OBS Studio?
Choose Excalidraw if you want the larger community (135,053 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose OBS Studio if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.