head to head · open source
OpenShot vs freecut
OpenShot has 6,741 GitHub stars, 833 forks, 418 open issues and last shipped yesterday. freecut has 2,306 stars, 362 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. OpenShot leads on adoption by 192% (6,741 vs 2,306 stars). OpenShot is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; freecut is written in TypeScript under MIT. OpenShot has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, freecut 16%. OpenShot was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (video-editing), 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.
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Side by side
| OpenShot | freecut | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.7K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 833 | ⑂ 362 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenShot if
- You weight community size — 6.7K 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 freecut if
- You want the freecut feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and freecut fits your workflow better
About OpenShot
OpenShot Video Editor OpenShot Video Editor is an award winning free and open source video editor for Linux, Mac, and Windows, and is dedicated to delivering high quality video editing and animation solutions to the world. Build Status Features Cross platform (Linux, Mac, and Windows) Support for many video, audio, and image formats (based on FFmpeg) Powerful curve based Key frame animations Desktop integration (drag and drop support) Unlimited tracks / layers Clip resizing, scaling, trimming, snapping, rotation, and cutting Video transitions with real time previews Compositing, image overlays, watermarks Title…
read the full OpenShot overview →
About freecut
FreeCut freecut.net Edit videos. In your browser. FreeCut is a browser based, multi track video editor. No install, no uploads: projects and media stay local, while editing, preview, analysis, transcription, AI generation, and export run in the browser through WebGPU, WebCodecs, Web Workers, OPFS, and the File System Access API. FreeCut writes projects, linked media metadata, thumbnails, waveforms, generated AI assets, transcripts, scene cuts, and caches as plain files inside a workspace folder you choose on disk. User Guide New to FreeCut? Start with the user guide. Community Join the FreeCut Discord to share…
read the full freecut overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenShot or freecut more popular?
OpenShot has 6,741 GitHub stars and freecut has 2,306. OpenShot has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenShot and freecut free?
Both are open source. OpenShot has no licence declared in this registry, and freecut is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenShot and freecut?
OpenShot is written in Python and freecut in TypeScript. 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 freecut?
Choose OpenShot if you want the larger community (6,741 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose freecut if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.