head to head · open source
manim vs two.js
manim has 94,360 GitHub stars, 7,745 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. two.js has 8,662 stars, 463 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped today. manim leads on adoption by 989% (94,360 vs 8,662 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; two.js is written in JavaScript under MIT. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, two.js 5%. two.js 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 | two.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 94K | ★ 8.7K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-09-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.7K | ⑂ 463 |
| 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 two.js if
- You want the two.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and two.js 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 two.js
Two.js is a renderer agnostic two dimensional drawing API for the web, published as the npm package two.js under the MIT licence, for JavaScript developers who want one API to draw and animate the same scene in WebGL, Canvas2D, or SVG.
read the full two.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or two.js more popular?
manim has 94,360 GitHub stars and two.js has 8,662. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and two.js free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and two.js under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and two.js?
manim is written in Python and two.js in JavaScript. 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 two.js?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (94,360 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose two.js if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.