head to head · open source
manim vs doodle
manim has 94,732 GitHub stars, 7,766 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 29 days ago. doodle has 799 stars, 32 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 11 months ago. manim leads on adoption by 11,756% (94,732 vs 799 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; doodle is written in Kotlin under MIT. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, doodle 4%. manim 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 | doodle | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 95K | ★ 799 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2025-11-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.8K | ⑂ 32 |
| 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 doodle if
- You want the doodle feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and doodle 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 doodle
Doodle is a pure Kotlin UI framework for building applications that run on both the Web and the Desktop, aimed at developers who want to write their entire interface in Kotlin across JVM, JavaScript, and Wasm targets.
read the full doodle overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or doodle more popular?
manim has 94,732 GitHub stars and doodle has 799. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and doodle free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and doodle under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and doodle?
manim is written in Python and doodle in Kotlin. 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 doodle?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (94,732 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose doodle if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.