head to head · open source
Audacity vs lightcraft
Audacity has 18,928 GitHub stars, 2,712 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lightcraft has 15,318 stars, 5,886 forks, 347 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Audacity leads on adoption by 24% (18,928 vs 15,318 stars). Audacity is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence; lightcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Audacity has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, lightcraft 38%. Audacity 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
| Audacity | lightcraft | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 15K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 5.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Audacity if
- You weight community size — 19K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- 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 Audacity
Audacity Audacity is an easy to use, multi track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. More info can be found on This repository is currently undergoing major structural change. We're currently working on Audacity 4, which means an entirely new UI and also refactorings aplenty. As such, the master branch is currently not particularly friendly to new contributors. It is still possible to submit patches to Audacity 3.x; make sure you branch off audacity3 if you choose to do so. Build instructions for 3.x can be found here; build instructions for Audacity 4 can be…
read the full Audacity overview →
About lightcraft
LightCraft Your photos. Your pixels. Your machine. English · 简体中文 Photo library and raw development; an open source, clean room reimplementation of Adobe Lightroom, rebuilt in pure Rust. Native on macOS, Windows and Linux. In the browser via WebAssembly. Drivable end to end by AI agents over MCP. LightCraft on getartcraft.com · ArtCraft · All Crafting Apps Ansel Adams, "The Tetons and the Snake River" (1942). Public domain, U.S. National Archives. Developed in LightCraft. [!NOTE] ArtCraft is a community of artists from all walks of life. Digital, generative, music, games — if you make things, you're one of…
read the full lightcraft overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Audacity or lightcraft more popular?
Audacity has 18,928 GitHub stars and lightcraft has 15,318. Audacity has the larger community by that measure.
Are Audacity and lightcraft free?
Both are open source. Audacity has no licence declared in this registry, and lightcraft is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Audacity and lightcraft?
Audacity is written in C++ 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, Audacity or lightcraft?
Choose Audacity if you want the larger community (18,928 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose lightcraft if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.