head to head · open source
OpenCut vs chafa
OpenCut has 98,198 GitHub stars, 9,811 forks, 378 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. chafa has 5,398 stars, 125 forks, 54 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. OpenCut leads on adoption by 1,719% (98,198 vs 5,398 stars). OpenCut is written in TypeScript under MIT; chafa is written in C under LGPL-3.0. OpenCut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, chafa 2%. chafa 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.
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Side by side
| OpenCut | chafa | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 98K | ★ 5.4K |
| License | MIT | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 125 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenCut if
- You weight community size — 98K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick chafa if
- You want the chafa feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and chafa 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 chafa
    About • Gallery • Packages • Development About Chafa is a command line utility that converts image data, including animated GIFs, into graphics formats or ANSI/Unicode character art suitable for display in a terminal. It has broad feature support, allowing it to be used on devices ranging from historical teleprinters to modern terminal emulators and everything in between. The core functionality is provided by a C library with a public, well documented API. Both library and frontend tools are covered by the Lesser GPL license, version 3 or later (LGPLv3+). The official web pages and C API…
read the full chafa overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenCut or chafa more popular?
OpenCut has 98,198 GitHub stars and chafa has 5,398. OpenCut has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenCut and chafa free?
Both are open source. OpenCut is licensed under MIT and chafa under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenCut and chafa?
OpenCut is written in TypeScript and chafa 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 chafa?
Choose OpenCut if you want the larger community (98,198 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose chafa if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.