head to head · open source
manim vs draw.io
manim has 96,012 GitHub stars, 7,895 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. draw.io has 9,138 stars, 1,361 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. manim leads on adoption by 951% (96,012 vs 9,138 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; draw.io is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, draw.io 15%. draw.io 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 | draw.io | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 9.1K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.9K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick manim if
- You weight community size — 96K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick draw.io if
- You want the draw.io feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and draw.io fits your workflow better
About manim
Manim is an engine for precise programmatic animations, designed for creating explanatory math videos. Note, there are two versions of manim. This repository began as a personal project by the author of 3Blue1Brown for the purpose of animating those videos, with video specific code available here. In 2020 a group of developers forked it into what is now the community edition, with a goal of being more stable, better tested, quicker to respond to community contributions, and all around friendlier to get started with. See this page for more details. Installation [!Warning] WARNING: These instructions are for…
read the full manim overview →
About draw.io
draw.io About draw.io is a configurable diagramming and whiteboarding application, jointly owned and developed by draw.io Ltd (previously named JGraph) and draw.io AG. We also run a production deployment at License The source code in this repository is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. The icon sets, stencil libraries, and diagram templates are provided under the following terms: The icon sets and stencil libraries included in this software, and any derivatives thereof (including conversions to other formats, traced reproductions, substantially similar visual representations, or AI generated images created…
read the full draw.io overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or draw.io more popular?
manim has 96,012 GitHub stars and draw.io has 9,138. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and draw.io free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and draw.io under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and draw.io?
manim is written in Python and draw.io 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 draw.io?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (96,012 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose draw.io if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.