head to head · open source
motion vs pencil
motion has 33,658 GitHub stars, 1,363 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. pencil has 9,866 stars, 792 forks, 533 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. motion leads on adoption by 241% (33,658 vs 9,866 stars). motion is written in TypeScript under MIT; pencil is written in JavaScript under GPL-2.0. motion has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, pencil 8%. motion 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| motion | pencil | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 9.9K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-06-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 792 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick motion if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pencil if
- You want the pencil feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and pencil fits your workflow better
About motion
Motion is an open source, MIT licensed animation library for React, JavaScript and Vue that provides a simple API and a hybrid engine for 120fps, GPU accelerated animation.
read the full motion overview →
About pencil
Pencil is a free and open source diagramming and GUI prototyping tool, licensed under GPL 2.0, that lets designers and developers sketch wireframes, mockups, and diagrams on the desktop without a commercial licence.
read the full pencil 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 motion or pencil more popular?
motion has 33,658 GitHub stars and pencil has 9,866. motion has the larger community by that measure.
Are motion and pencil free?
Both are open source. motion is licensed under MIT and pencil under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between motion and pencil?
motion is written in TypeScript and pencil 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, motion or pencil?
Choose motion if you want the larger community (33,658 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pencil if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.