head to head · open source
LosslessCut vs pireel
LosslessCut has 43,978 GitHub stars, 2,186 forks, 300 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. pireel has 1,226 stars, 108 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. LosslessCut leads on adoption by 3,487% (43,978 vs 1,226 stars). LosslessCut is written in TypeScript under GPL-2.0; pireel is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. LosslessCut has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, pireel 9%. pireel was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (video-editor), 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
| LosslessCut | pireel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 108 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LosslessCut if
- You weight community size — 44K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pireel if
- You want the pireel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and pireel fits your workflow better
About LosslessCut
LosslessCut is a cross platform desktop application for lossless editing of video, audio, and subtitle files. Built with Electron and TypeScript, it serves as a graphical interface to FFmpeg, enabling users to perform precise cuts, trims, merges, and track manipulations without re encoding, thus preserving original quality. It targets users who need to rapidly process media files—such as raw footage from cameras, drones, or smartphones—where re encoding would be time consuming and degrade fidelity.
read the full LosslessCut overview →
About pireel
Pireel is an open source AI video editor, positioned as the open source alternative to CapCut and ChatCut, that is built for both human editors and AI agents and can be driven by any AI agent over MCP.
read the full pireel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LosslessCut or pireel more popular?
LosslessCut has 43,978 GitHub stars and pireel has 1,226. LosslessCut has the larger community by that measure.
Are LosslessCut and pireel free?
Both are open source. LosslessCut is licensed under GPL-2.0 and pireel under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between LosslessCut and pireel?
LosslessCut is written in TypeScript and pireel in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, LosslessCut or pireel?
Choose LosslessCut if you want the larger community (43,978 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose pireel if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.