head to head · open source
rembg vs libvips
rembg has 24,813 GitHub stars, 2,422 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. libvips has 11,656 stars, 797 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rembg leads on adoption by 113% (24,813 vs 11,656 stars). rembg is written in Python under MIT; libvips is written in C under LGPL-2.1. rembg has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, libvips 7%. libvips was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (image-processing), 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
| rembg | libvips | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | LGPL-2.1 |
| Written in | Python | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-08 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 797 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rembg if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick libvips if
- You want the libvips feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-2.1 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and libvips fits your workflow better
About rembg
Rembg is an MIT licensed Python tool for removing image backgrounds, usable as a CLI, a Python library, an HTTP server, or a Docker container, and aimed at developers, designers, and automated image pipelines that need background removal without depending on a hosted service.
read the full rembg overview →
About libvips
libvips is a demand driven, horizontally threaded image processing library in C, licensed LGPL 2.1 or later, for developers who need to resize, convert and analyse large images quickly without exhausting memory.
read the full libvips overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rembg or libvips more popular?
rembg has 24,813 GitHub stars and libvips has 11,656. rembg has the larger community by that measure.
Are rembg and libvips free?
Both are open source. rembg is licensed under MIT and libvips under LGPL-2.1. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rembg and libvips?
rembg is written in Python and libvips 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, rembg or libvips?
Choose rembg if you want the larger community (24,813 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose libvips if its feature set, stack or LGPL-2.1 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.