head to head · open source
lightcraft vs palmier-pro
lightcraft has 15,318 GitHub stars, 5,886 forks, 347 open issues and last shipped yesterday. palmier-pro has 14,673 stars, 1,152 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lightcraft leads on adoption by 4% (15,318 vs 14,673 stars). lightcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; palmier-pro is written in Swift under GPL-3.0. lightcraft has attracted 38% as many forks as stars, palmier-pro 8%. palmier-pro 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 | palmier-pro | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 palmier-pro if
- You want the palmier-pro feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and palmier-pro 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 palmier-pro
[!IMPORTANT] Palmier Pro releases through v0.7.6, and source code through last gpl source , were published under GPLv3. Later binary releases are proprietary, and their corresponding source is not published. This repository preserves the historical source and hosts current binary releases and update metadata. Palmier Pro The video editor built for AI. Requires macOS 26 (Tahoe) on Apple Silicon English · Español · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Tiếng Việt · हिन्दी · বাংলা · العربية · Italiano · Português (Brasil) · Français · Русский · Türkçe Palmier Pro is a macOS video editor with built in AI generation and MCP…
read the full palmier-pro overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lightcraft or palmier-pro more popular?
lightcraft has 15,318 GitHub stars and palmier-pro has 14,673. lightcraft has the larger community by that measure.
Are lightcraft and palmier-pro free?
Both are open source. lightcraft is licensed under Apache-2.0 and palmier-pro under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lightcraft and palmier-pro?
lightcraft is written in Rust and palmier-pro in Swift. 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 palmier-pro?
Choose lightcraft if you want the larger community (15,318 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose palmier-pro if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.