head to head · open source
filmcraft vs lightcraft
filmcraft has 12,692 GitHub stars, 5,140 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lightcraft has 12,100 stars, 4,402 forks, 347 open issues and last shipped yesterday. filmcraft leads on adoption by 5% (12,692 vs 12,100 stars). filmcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; lightcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. filmcraft has attracted 40% as many forks as stars, lightcraft 36%. filmcraft was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (art, rust), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| filmcraft | lightcraft | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 13K | ★ 12K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-13 | 2026-10-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.1K | ⑂ 4.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick filmcraft if
- You weight community size — 13K 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 lightcraft if
- You want the lightcraft feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and lightcraft fits your workflow better
About filmcraft
FilmCraft is an open source, clean room reimplementation of the Adobe Premiere Pro editing workflow, written in pure Rust, for professional editors who want a native, self owned non linear editor on desktop or in the browser.
read the full filmcraft overview →
About lightcraft
LightCraft is an open source, clean room reimplementation of Adobe Lightroom written in pure Rust, aimed at photographers who want a native, non destructive photo library and raw editor on their own machine.
read the full lightcraft overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is filmcraft or lightcraft more popular?
filmcraft has 12,692 GitHub stars and lightcraft has 12,100. filmcraft has the larger community by that measure.
Are filmcraft and lightcraft free?
Both are open source. filmcraft is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lightcraft under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between filmcraft and lightcraft?
filmcraft is written in Rust and lightcraft in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, filmcraft or lightcraft?
Choose filmcraft if you want the larger community (12,692 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose lightcraft if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.