head to head · open source
manim vs charm
manim has 94,045 GitHub stars, 7,724 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. charm has 649 stars, 169 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. manim leads on adoption by 14,391% (94,045 vs 649 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; charm is written in Python under LGPL-3.0. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, charm 26%. charm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (python), 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 | charm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 94K | ★ 649 |
| License | MIT | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.7K | ⑂ 169 |
| 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 charm if
- You want the charm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and charm 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 charm
Charm (Charm Crypto) is a Python based framework for rapidly prototyping advanced cryptosystems — attribute based encryption, identity based encryption, pairing based schemes, threshold ECDSA, and zero knowledge proofs — built for researchers and engineers who need working schemes without hand writing the underlying mathematics.
read the full charm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or charm more popular?
manim has 94,045 GitHub stars and charm has 649. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and charm free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and charm under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and charm?
manim is written in Python and charm in Python. 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 charm?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (94,045 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose charm if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.