head to head · open source
OpenCut vs Audacity
OpenCut has 89,680 GitHub stars, 8,852 forks, 378 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Audacity has 18,465 stars, 2,671 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenCut leads on adoption by 386% (89,680 vs 18,465 stars). OpenCut is written in TypeScript under MIT; Audacity is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence. OpenCut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Audacity 14%. Audacity was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (editor), 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
| OpenCut | Audacity | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 18K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-08-10 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.9K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenCut if
- You weight community size — 90K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Audacity if
- You want the Audacity feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Audacity fits your workflow better
About OpenCut
OpenCut is a free, MIT licensed video editor that runs in the browser and is being rebuilt to serve web, desktop, and mobile from a single codebase, aimed at creators who want an open source alternative to CapCut.
read the full OpenCut overview →
About Audacity
Audacity is an open source audio editor and recorder written in C++ and distributed under free software terms. It lives in the open source desktop audio editing ecosystem, where it provides a multi track interface for recording and editing audio on Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. The README describes the project as an easy to use audio tool, and the repository contains both the Audacity 3.x line and the in progress Audacity 4 line.
read the full Audacity overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenCut or Audacity more popular?
OpenCut has 89,680 GitHub stars and Audacity has 18,465. OpenCut has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenCut and Audacity free?
Both are open source. OpenCut is licensed under MIT, and Audacity has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenCut and Audacity?
OpenCut is written in TypeScript and Audacity 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, OpenCut or Audacity?
Choose OpenCut if you want the larger community (89,680 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Audacity if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.