head to head · open source
manim vs Wave
manim has 94,927 GitHub stars, 7,781 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Wave has 2,398 stars, 72 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. manim leads on adoption by 3,859% (94,927 vs 2,398 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; Wave is written in Swift under MIT. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Wave 3%. manim 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 | Wave | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 95K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-03-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.8K | ⑂ 72 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick manim if
- You weight community size — 95K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Wave if
- You want the Wave feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and Wave 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 Wave
Wave is a spring based animation engine for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS that gives Swift developers fluid, interruptible, retargetable animations without external dependencies.
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or Wave more popular?
manim has 94,927 GitHub stars and Wave has 2,398. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and Wave free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and Wave under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and Wave?
manim is written in Python and Wave in Swift. 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 Wave?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (94,927 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Wave if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.