head to head · open source
manim vs Pixelorama
manim has 96,389 GitHub stars, 7,920 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Pixelorama has 11,071 stars, 615 forks, 87 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. manim leads on adoption by 771% (96,389 vs 11,071 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; Pixelorama is written in GDScript under MIT. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Pixelorama 6%. Pixelorama 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 | Pixelorama | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 11K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | GDScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-11-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.9K | ⑂ 615 |
| 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 Pixelorama if
- You want the Pixelorama feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches GDScript
- You evaluated both and Pixelorama 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 Pixelorama
Pixelorama pixelate your dreams! Unleash your creativity with Pixelorama, a powerful and accessible open source pixel art multitool. Whether you want to create sprites, tiles, animations, or just express yourself in the language of pixel art, this software will realize your pixel perfect dreams with a vast toolbox of features. Join our Discord community server where we can discuss about Pixelorama and all our other projects! If you like, consider helping us by sponsoring this project! It would enable us to focus more on Pixelorama, and make more projects in the future! Download Stable versions: Steam (Windows &…
read the full Pixelorama 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 Pixelorama more popular?
manim has 96,389 GitHub stars and Pixelorama has 11,071. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and Pixelorama free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and Pixelorama under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and Pixelorama?
manim is written in Python and Pixelorama in GDScript. 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 Pixelorama?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (96,389 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Pixelorama if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.