head to head · open source
ImageToolbox vs lightcraft
ImageToolbox has 14,993 GitHub stars, 649 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. lightcraft has 12,100 stars, 4,402 forks, 347 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ImageToolbox leads on adoption by 24% (14,993 vs 12,100 stars). ImageToolbox is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0; lightcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. ImageToolbox has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, lightcraft 36%. lightcraft 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
| ImageToolbox | lightcraft | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 12K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Kotlin | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-10 | 2026-10-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 649 | ⑂ 4.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ImageToolbox if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- 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 ImageToolbox
ImageToolbox is a free and open source Android image editor written in Kotlin with Jetpack Compose and released under Apache 2.0, aimed at photographers, developers, and everyday Android users who need deep photo manipulation — crop, draw, filter chains, EXIF editing, background removal, and AI assisted enhancement — without analytics or crash reporting dependencies.
read the full ImageToolbox 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 ImageToolbox or lightcraft more popular?
ImageToolbox has 14,993 GitHub stars and lightcraft has 12,100. ImageToolbox has the larger community by that measure.
Are ImageToolbox and lightcraft free?
Both are open source. ImageToolbox is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lightcraft under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ImageToolbox and lightcraft?
ImageToolbox is written in Kotlin 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, ImageToolbox or lightcraft?
Choose ImageToolbox if you want the larger community (14,993 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.