head to head · open source
manim vs canvas-confetti
manim has 94,191 GitHub stars, 7,735 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. canvas-confetti has 12,762 stars, 464 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 11 months ago. manim leads on adoption by 638% (94,191 vs 12,762 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; canvas-confetti is written in JavaScript under ISC. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, canvas-confetti 4%. 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 | canvas-confetti | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 94K | ★ 13K |
| License | MIT | ISC |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2025-10-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.7K | ⑂ 464 |
| 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 canvas-confetti if
- You want the canvas-confetti feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the ISC license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and canvas-confetti 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 canvas-confetti
canvas confetti is an ISC licensed JavaScript library, published on npm and loadable from a CDN, that draws performant confetti particle animations onto a browser canvas through a single confetti() call — built for front end developers who want a celebration effect in a web page without writing their own particle engine.
read the full canvas-confetti overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or canvas-confetti more popular?
manim has 94,191 GitHub stars and canvas-confetti has 12,762. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and canvas-confetti free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and canvas-confetti under ISC. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and canvas-confetti?
manim is written in Python and canvas-confetti in JavaScript. 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 canvas-confetti?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (94,191 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose canvas-confetti if its feature set, stack or ISC licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.