head to head · open source
Audacity vs palmier-pro
Audacity has 18,493 GitHub stars, 2,667 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. palmier-pro has 14,437 stars, 1,121 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Audacity leads on adoption by 28% (18,493 vs 14,437 stars). Audacity is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence; palmier-pro is written in Swift under GPL-3.0. Audacity has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, palmier-pro 8%. Audacity 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
| Audacity | palmier-pro | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 14K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Audacity if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick palmier-pro if
- You want the palmier-pro feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and palmier-pro fits your workflow better
About Audacity
Audacity is an open source audio editor and recorder written in C++ and distributed under free software terms. It lives in the open source desktop audio editing ecosystem, where it provides a multi track interface for recording and editing audio on Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. The README describes the project as an easy to use audio tool, and the repository contains both the Audacity 3.x line and the in progress Audacity 4 line.
read the full Audacity overview →
About palmier-pro
Palmier Pro is a Swift native macOS video editor with built in generative AI and a Model Context Protocol server, aimed at Apple Silicon editors who want agents such as Claude, Codex, or Cursor to create and edit directly on the timeline.
read the full palmier-pro overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Audacity or palmier-pro more popular?
Audacity has 18,493 GitHub stars and palmier-pro has 14,437. Audacity has the larger community by that measure.
Are Audacity and palmier-pro free?
Both are open source. Audacity has no licence declared in this registry, and palmier-pro is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Audacity and palmier-pro?
Audacity is written in C++ and palmier-pro in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Audacity or palmier-pro?
Choose Audacity if you want the larger community (18,493 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose palmier-pro if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.