head to head · open source
photocraft vs Darktable
photocraft has 46,731 GitHub stars, 7,428 forks, 1,208 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Darktable has 13,258 stars, 1,466 forks, 678 open issues and last shipped yesterday. photocraft leads on adoption by 252% (46,731 vs 13,258 stars). photocraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Darktable is written in C under GPL-3.0. photocraft has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Darktable 11%. 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 | Darktable | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 13K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.4K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| 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 Darktable if
- You want the Darktable feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and Darktable 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 Darktable
Darktable is an open source photography workflow application and non destructive raw developer. It acts as a virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers, and it lives in the open source photography ecosystem as a C project licensed under the GPL 3.0. It manages digital negatives in a database, lets a user view them through a zoomable lighttable, and supports raw development, enhancement, and export to local or remote storage.
read the full Darktable overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is photocraft or Darktable more popular?
photocraft has 46,731 GitHub stars and Darktable has 13,258. photocraft has the larger community by that measure.
Are photocraft and Darktable free?
Both are open source. photocraft is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Darktable under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between photocraft and Darktable?
photocraft is written in Rust and Darktable 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 Darktable?
Choose photocraft if you want the larger community (46,731 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Darktable if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.