head to head · open source
manim vs kurtosis
manim has 94,113 GitHub stars, 7,732 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. kurtosis has 553 stars, 100 forks, 313 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. manim leads on adoption by 16,919% (94,113 vs 553 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; kurtosis is written in Go under Apache-2.0. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, kurtosis 18%. 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 | kurtosis | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 94K | ★ 553 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.7K | ⑂ 100 |
| 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 kurtosis if
- You want the kurtosis feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and kurtosis 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 kurtosis
Kurtosis is an Apache 2.0, Go based platform for packaging and launching blockchain infrastructure and other backend stacks, aimed at developers and teams who need reproducible, ephemeral development and test environments that run on either Docker or Kubernetes.
read the full kurtosis overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or kurtosis more popular?
manim has 94,113 GitHub stars and kurtosis has 553. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and kurtosis free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and kurtosis under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and kurtosis?
manim is written in Python and kurtosis in Go. 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 kurtosis?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (94,113 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose kurtosis if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.