head to head · open source
OpenShot vs ai-video-editor
OpenShot has 6,540 GitHub stars, 812 forks, 418 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ai-video-editor has 859 stars, 108 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. OpenShot leads on adoption by 661% (6,540 vs 859 stars). OpenShot is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; ai-video-editor is written in JavaScript under MIT. OpenShot has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, ai-video-editor 13%. OpenShot 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| OpenShot | ai-video-editor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.5K | ★ 859 |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 812 | ⑂ 108 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenShot if
- You weight community size — 6.5K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ai-video-editor if
- You want the ai-video-editor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and ai-video-editor fits your workflow better
About OpenShot
OpenShot Video Editor is a free, cross platform, open source video editor for Linux, Mac, and Windows, built for hobbyists, educators, and small production teams who want timeline based editing and animation without a commercial subscription.
read the full OpenShot overview →
About ai-video-editor
Timeline Studio, published on GitHub as ai video editor, is an MIT licensed, local first video editor that runs in the browser, built for creators and AI agent developers who edit the same real multi track timeline.
read the full ai-video-editor 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 OpenShot or ai-video-editor more popular?
OpenShot has 6,540 GitHub stars and ai-video-editor has 859. OpenShot has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenShot and ai-video-editor free?
Both are open source. OpenShot has no licence declared in this registry, and ai-video-editor is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenShot and ai-video-editor?
OpenShot is written in Python and ai-video-editor in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenShot or ai-video-editor?
Choose OpenShot if you want the larger community (6,540 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose ai-video-editor if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.