head to head · open source
manim vs openharness
manim has 94,113 GitHub stars, 7,732 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. openharness has 529 stars, 50 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped yesterday. manim leads on adoption by 17,691% (94,113 vs 529 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; openharness is written in C under MIT. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, openharness 9%. openharness 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 | openharness | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 94K | ★ 529 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.7K | ⑂ 50 |
| 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 openharness if
- You want the openharness feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and openharness 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 openharness
OpenHarness is MIT licensed open source software and hardware, written in C, that gives people who build with coding agents one place to run those agents alongside domain tools and live viewers for work beyond software — CAD parts, circuit boards, data analysis, and video.
read the full openharness overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or openharness more popular?
manim has 94,113 GitHub stars and openharness has 529. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and openharness free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and openharness under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and openharness?
manim is written in Python and openharness 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 openharness?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (94,113 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose openharness if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.