head to head · open source
manim vs auto-animate
manim has 94,132 GitHub stars, 7,734 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. auto-animate has 13,924 stars, 260 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. manim leads on adoption by 576% (94,132 vs 13,924 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; auto-animate is written in TypeScript under MIT. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, auto-animate 2%. manim was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (animation), 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
| manim | auto-animate | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 94K | ★ 14K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-07-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.7K | ⑂ 260 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick manim if
- You weight community size — 94K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick auto-animate if
- You want the auto-animate feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and auto-animate fits your workflow better
About manim
Manim is a Python animation engine for precise, programmatic rendering of explanatory mathematics videos, built for educators, mathematicians, and developers who want frame accurate control over every element of a mathematical animation instead of editing on a timeline.
read the full manim overview →
About auto-animate
AutoAnimate is a zero config, drop in animation utility that adds smooth transitions to a web application with a single line of code, aimed at JavaScript, React, Vue, and Solid developers who want motion in their interfaces without hand writing animation logic.
read the full auto-animate overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or auto-animate more popular?
manim has 94,132 GitHub stars and auto-animate has 13,924. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and auto-animate free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and auto-animate under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and auto-animate?
manim is written in Python and auto-animate 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, manim or auto-animate?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (94,132 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose auto-animate if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.