head to head · open source
lightcraft vs Darktable
lightcraft has 15,318 GitHub stars, 5,886 forks, 347 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Darktable has 13,383 stars, 1,506 forks, 678 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lightcraft leads on adoption by 14% (15,318 vs 13,383 stars). lightcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Darktable is written in C under GPL-3.0. lightcraft has attracted 38% as many forks as stars, Darktable 11%. Darktable 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
| lightcraft | Darktable | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 13K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lightcraft if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Darktable if
- You want the Darktable feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and Darktable fits your workflow better
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…
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About Darktable
darktable ========= darktable is an open source photography workflow application and non destructive raw developer a virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable lighttable and enables you to develop raw images, enhance them and export them to local or remote storage. darktable is not a free Adobe® Lightroom® replacement. Table of Contents 1. Documentation 2. Website 3. Requirements Supported platforms Hardware AI features (optional) 4. Installing Latest release Development snapshot 5. Updating from older versions 6…
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Frequently asked questions
Is lightcraft or Darktable more popular?
lightcraft has 15,318 GitHub stars and Darktable has 13,383. lightcraft has the larger community by that measure.
Are lightcraft and Darktable free?
Both are open source. lightcraft is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Darktable under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lightcraft and Darktable?
lightcraft is written in Rust and Darktable 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, lightcraft or Darktable?
Choose lightcraft if you want the larger community (15,318 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Darktable if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.