head to head · open source
photocraft vs Audacity
photocraft has 46,731 GitHub stars, 7,428 forks, 1,208 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Audacity has 18,703 stars, 2,683 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. photocraft leads on adoption by 150% (46,731 vs 18,703 stars). photocraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Audacity is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence. photocraft has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Audacity 14%. photocraft 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
| photocraft | Audacity | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 19K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Rust | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.4K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick photocraft if
- You weight community size — 47K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Audacity if
- You want the Audacity feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Audacity fits your workflow better
About photocraft
PhotoCraft is an open source, clean room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop, written in pure Rust, for image editors who want a native offline app they can own rather than a subscription.
read the full photocraft overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is photocraft or Audacity more popular?
photocraft has 46,731 GitHub stars and Audacity has 18,703. photocraft has the larger community by that measure.
Are photocraft and Audacity free?
Both are open source. photocraft is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Audacity has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between photocraft and Audacity?
photocraft is written in Rust and Audacity in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, photocraft or Audacity?
Choose photocraft if you want the larger community (46,731 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Audacity if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.