head to head · open source
OpenCut vs Audacity
OpenCut has 97,156 GitHub stars, 9,671 forks, 378 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Audacity has 18,928 stars, 2,712 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenCut leads on adoption by 413% (97,156 vs 18,928 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| OpenCut | Audacity | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 97K | ★ 19K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.7K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenCut if
- You weight community size — 97K 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 A free and open source video editor for web, desktop, and mobile. Status OpenCut is being rewritten from the ground up. What's coming: An Editor API First class third party plugins (made possible by a plugin first architecture) Desktop, mobile, and browser from one codebase (Rust core) MCP server (for AI agents) Headless mode (automation, batch rendering) A scripting tab directly in the editor You can still find the previous version at opencut app/opencut classic, which is the one to reach for today. opencut.app still runs the classic version. The rewrite will live at new.opencut.app until it's ready to…
read the full OpenCut overview →
About Audacity
Audacity Audacity is an easy to use, multi track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. More info can be found on This repository is currently undergoing major structural change. We're currently working on Audacity 4, which means an entirely new UI and also refactorings aplenty. As such, the master branch is currently not particularly friendly to new contributors. It is still possible to submit patches to Audacity 3.x; make sure you branch off audacity3 if you choose to do so. Build instructions for 3.x can be found here; build instructions for Audacity 4 can be…
read the full Audacity overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Photo & Video Editors projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Photo & Video Editors field.
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenCut or Audacity more popular?
OpenCut has 97,156 GitHub stars and Audacity has 18,928. 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 (97,156 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Audacity if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.