head to head · open source
OpenCut vs lightcraft
OpenCut has 93,587 GitHub stars, 9,185 forks, 378 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. lightcraft has 9,989 stars, 3,378 forks, 347 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenCut leads on adoption by 837% (93,587 vs 9,989 stars). OpenCut is written in TypeScript under MIT; lightcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. OpenCut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, lightcraft 34%. lightcraft 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 | lightcraft | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 94K | ★ 10.0K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.2K | ⑂ 3.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenCut if
- You weight community size — 94K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick lightcraft if
- You want the lightcraft feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and lightcraft 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 lightcraft
LightCraft is an open source, clean room reimplementation of Adobe Lightroom written in pure Rust, aimed at photographers who want a native, non destructive photo library and raw editor on their own machine.
read the full lightcraft overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenCut or lightcraft more popular?
OpenCut has 93,587 GitHub stars and lightcraft has 9,989. OpenCut has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenCut and lightcraft free?
Both are open source. OpenCut is licensed under MIT and lightcraft under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenCut and lightcraft?
OpenCut is written in TypeScript and lightcraft in Rust. 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 lightcraft?
Choose OpenCut if you want the larger community (93,587 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lightcraft if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.