head to head · open source
photocraft vs RapidRAW
photocraft has 76,961 GitHub stars, 13,643 forks, 1,208 open issues and last shipped yesterday. RapidRAW has 10,955 stars, 651 forks, 485 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. photocraft leads on adoption by 603% (76,961 vs 10,955 stars). photocraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; RapidRAW is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. photocraft has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, RapidRAW 6%. photocraft was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (rust), 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
| photocraft | RapidRAW | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 14K | ⑂ 651 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick photocraft if
- You weight community size — 77K 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 RapidRAW if
- You want the RapidRAW feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and RapidRAW fits your workflow better
About photocraft
PhotoCraft Image editing; an open source, clean room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop, rebuilt in pure Rust. Layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, type, vectors, brushes and real PSD files, in a native app written entirely in Rust. Open source, offline, and yours. PhotoCraft on getartcraft.com · ArtCraft · All Crafting Apps A caption card with a drop shadow, live type, and Vibrance and Curves adjustment layers, with the Curves editor open. The Great Wave off Kanagawa , Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1831 [!NOTE] ArtCraft is a community of artists from all walks of life. Digital, generative, music, games…
read the full photocraft overview →
About RapidRAW
RapidRAW A beautiful, non destructive, and GPU accelerated RAW image editor built with performance in mind. RapidRAW is a modern, high performance alternative to Adobe Lightroom®. It delivers a simple, beautiful editing experience in a lightweight package for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. I started developing this project as a personal challenge when I was 18. My goal was to create a high performance tool for my own photography workflow while deepening my understanding of React, WGSL and Rust. Download RapidRAW Get the latest release for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Packaged and ready to run…
read the full RapidRAW overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is photocraft or RapidRAW more popular?
photocraft has 76,961 GitHub stars and RapidRAW has 10,955. photocraft has the larger community by that measure.
Are photocraft and RapidRAW free?
Both are open source. photocraft is licensed under Apache-2.0 and RapidRAW under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between photocraft and RapidRAW?
photocraft is written in Rust and RapidRAW 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, photocraft or RapidRAW?
Choose photocraft if you want the larger community (76,961 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose RapidRAW if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.