head to head · open source
manim vs cadcraft
manim has 94,910 GitHub stars, 7,780 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. cadcraft has 2,508 stars, 1,150 forks, 90 open issues and last shipped yesterday. manim leads on adoption by 3,684% (94,910 vs 2,508 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; cadcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, cadcraft 46%. cadcraft 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
| manim | cadcraft | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 95K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.8K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick manim if
- You weight community size — 95K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cadcraft if
- You want the cadcraft 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 cadcraft 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 cadcraft
CADCraft is an open source, clean room reimplementation of Autodesk AutoCAD written in pure Rust, aimed at drafters and developers who want the familiar CAD command line workflow without a commercial licence.
read the full cadcraft overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or cadcraft more popular?
manim has 94,910 GitHub stars and cadcraft has 2,508. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and cadcraft free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and cadcraft under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and cadcraft?
manim is written in Python and cadcraft 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, manim or cadcraft?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (94,910 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cadcraft if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.