head to head · open source
Shotcut vs ImageToolbox
Shotcut has 15,242 GitHub stars, 1,510 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. ImageToolbox has 14,689 stars, 637 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Shotcut leads on adoption by 4% (15,242 vs 14,689 stars). Shotcut is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; ImageToolbox is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0. Shotcut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, ImageToolbox 4%. ImageToolbox 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 | ImageToolbox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 15K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 637 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Shotcut if
- You weight community size — 15K 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 ImageToolbox if
- You want the ImageToolbox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and ImageToolbox fits your workflow better
About Shotcut
Shotcut is a free, open source, cross platform video editor written in C++ and released under the GPL 3.0 license. It lives in the Qt and MLT ecosystem, using Qt for its application and user interface and MLT as its multimedia authoring framework. It provides regularly built binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows, and is positioned as an open alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve (Studio).
read the full Shotcut overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shotcut or ImageToolbox more popular?
Shotcut has 15,242 GitHub stars and ImageToolbox has 14,689. Shotcut has the larger community by that measure.
Are Shotcut and ImageToolbox free?
Both are open source. Shotcut is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ImageToolbox under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Shotcut and ImageToolbox?
Shotcut is written in C++ and ImageToolbox in Kotlin. 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 ImageToolbox?
Choose Shotcut if you want the larger community (15,242 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ImageToolbox if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.