head to head · open source
OpenCut vs PhotoEditor
OpenCut has 89,763 GitHub stars, 8,865 forks, 378 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. PhotoEditor has 4,509 stars, 1,049 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. OpenCut leads on adoption by 1,891% (89,763 vs 4,509 stars). OpenCut is written in TypeScript under MIT; PhotoEditor is written in Kotlin under MIT. OpenCut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, PhotoEditor 23%. PhotoEditor 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 | PhotoEditor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-08-10 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.9K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 PhotoEditor if
- You want the PhotoEditor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and PhotoEditor 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 PhotoEditor
PhotoEditor is an open source Kotlin library for Android that adds paint, text, filter, emoji, and sticker editing directly inside an app's own image workflow, and it is aimed at Android developers who need story style or social editing features without building that stack themselves.
read the full PhotoEditor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenCut or PhotoEditor more popular?
OpenCut has 89,763 GitHub stars and PhotoEditor has 4,509. OpenCut has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenCut and PhotoEditor free?
Both are open source. OpenCut is licensed under MIT and PhotoEditor under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenCut and PhotoEditor?
OpenCut is written in TypeScript and PhotoEditor in Kotlin. 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 PhotoEditor?
Choose OpenCut if you want the larger community (89,763 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose PhotoEditor if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.