head to head · open source
Shotcut vs google-images-download
Shotcut has 15,577 GitHub stars, 1,558 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped yesterday. google-images-download has 8,702 stars, 2,081 forks, 66 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Shotcut leads on adoption by 79% (15,577 vs 8,702 stars). Shotcut is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; google-images-download is written in Python under MIT. Shotcut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, google-images-download 24%. Shotcut 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
| Shotcut | google-images-download | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 8.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-05-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Shotcut if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick google-images-download if
- You want the google-images-download feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and google-images-download fits your workflow better
About Shotcut
Shotcut a free, open source, cross platform video editor Features: Roadmap: Install Binaries are regularly built and are available at Contributors Dan Dennedy : main author Brian Matherly : contributor Dependencies Shotcut's direct (linked or hard runtime) dependencies are: MLT: multimedia authoring framework Qt 6 (6.4 minimum): application and UI framework FFTW FFmpeg: multimedia format and codec libraries Frei0r: video plugins SDL: cross platform audio playback See for a more complete list including indirect and bundled dependencies. License GPLv3. See COPYING. How to build Warning : building Shotcut should…
read the full Shotcut overview →
About google-images-download
Google Images Download Python Script for 'searching' and 'downloading' hundreds of images from Google to the local hard drive! Documentation ============= Documentation Homepage Installation Input arguments Examples and Code Samples Requirements ============ Chrome/Chromium browser is required for this tool to work. Google Images now requires JavaScript execution, so Selenium with Chrome is mandatory for all downloads. Installation: Linux : apt get install chromium browser or apt get install google chrome stable macOS : brew install cask google chrome Windows : Download from The tool will automatically download…
read the full google-images-download overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shotcut or google-images-download more popular?
Shotcut has 15,577 GitHub stars and google-images-download has 8,702. Shotcut has the larger community by that measure.
Are Shotcut and google-images-download free?
Both are open source. Shotcut is licensed under GPL-3.0 and google-images-download under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Shotcut and google-images-download?
Shotcut is written in C++ and google-images-download in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Shotcut or google-images-download?
Choose Shotcut if you want the larger community (15,577 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose google-images-download if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.