head to head · open source
manim vs LibreSprite
manim has 96,534 GitHub stars, 7,929 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. LibreSprite has 8,797 stars, 626 forks, 104 open issues and last shipped yesterday. manim leads on adoption by 997% (96,534 vs 8,797 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; LibreSprite is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, LibreSprite 7%. LibreSprite 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.
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Side by side
| manim | LibreSprite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 97K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-11-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.9K | ⑂ 626 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick manim if
- You weight community size — 97K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick LibreSprite if
- You want the LibreSprite feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and LibreSprite 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 LibreSprite
LibreSprite Introduction LibreSprite is a free and open source program for creating and animating your sprites. Real time animation previews. Onion skinning. Multiple sprites can be edited at once. Ready to use palettes, or make your own. Sprites are composed of both layers & frames. Tiled drawing mode, useful to draw patterns and textures. Pixel precise tools like filled contour, polygon, shading mode, etc. Several file types supported for your sprites and animations. Download Get the latest release for Linux, MacOS, Windows or Android. History LibreSprite originated as a fork of Aseprite, developed by David…
read the full LibreSprite overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or LibreSprite more popular?
manim has 96,534 GitHub stars and LibreSprite has 8,797. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and LibreSprite free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and LibreSprite under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and LibreSprite?
manim is written in Python and LibreSprite in C++. 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 LibreSprite?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (96,534 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose LibreSprite if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.