head to head · open source
manim vs openflowkit
manim has 96,012 GitHub stars, 7,895 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. openflowkit has 925 stars, 181 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. manim leads on adoption by 10,280% (96,012 vs 925 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; openflowkit is written in TypeScript under MIT. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, openflowkit 20%. openflowkit 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 | openflowkit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 925 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.9K | ⑂ 181 |
| 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 openflowkit if
- You want the openflowkit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and openflowkit 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 openflowkit
OpenFlowKit The open source diagramming studio for builders. Create flows from templates, code, structured imports, or AI. Refine them visually, keep them local first, and export as Cinematic MP4 walkthroughs — or drive everything from Claude / Cursor / Windsurf via our first party MCP server . → Launch the App Documentation Website Issues Contribute ✨ Mermaid → Icons Paste Mermaid · 1,600+ icons auto assigned · beautiful 🤖 AI Generation 10 providers inc. local Ollama Direct to canvas output {} Diagram as Code Bidirectional live sync Git friendly DSL 🧩 Asset Libraries Developer · AWS · Azure GCP · CNCF · Icons…
read the full openflowkit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or openflowkit more popular?
manim has 96,012 GitHub stars and openflowkit has 925. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and openflowkit free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and openflowkit under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and openflowkit?
manim is written in Python and openflowkit in TypeScript. 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 openflowkit?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (96,012 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose openflowkit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.