head to head · open source
manim vs inochi2d
manim has 95,695 GitHub stars, 7,845 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. inochi2d has 1,827 stars, 70 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. manim leads on adoption by 5,138% (95,695 vs 1,827 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; inochi2d is written in D under BSD-2-Clause. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, inochi2d 4%. inochi2d 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| manim | inochi2d | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | Python | D |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-10-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.8K | ⑂ 70 |
| 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 inochi2d if
- You want the inochi2d feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches D
- You evaluated both and inochi2d 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 inochi2d
The Inochi2D logo was designed by James Daniel Inochi2D 日本語 简体中文 Inochi2D is a library for realtime 2D puppet animation and the reference implementation of the Inochi2D Puppet standard. Inochi2D works by deforming 2D meshes created from layered art at runtime based on parameters, this deformation tricks the viewer in to seeing 3D depth and movement in the 2D art. For Riggers and VTubers If you're a model rigger you may want to check out Inochi Creator, the official Inochi2D rigging app in development. If you're a VTuber you may want to check out Inochi Session. This repository is purely for the standard and is…
read the full inochi2d overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Design & Prototyping projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Design & Prototyping field.
Frequently asked questions
Is manim or inochi2d more popular?
manim has 95,695 GitHub stars and inochi2d has 1,827. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and inochi2d free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and inochi2d under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and inochi2d?
manim is written in Python and inochi2d in D. 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 inochi2d?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (95,695 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose inochi2d if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.