head to head · open source
photocraft vs thumbor
photocraft has 76,172 GitHub stars, 13,501 forks, 1,208 open issues and last shipped yesterday. thumbor has 10,529 stars, 861 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped yesterday. photocraft leads on adoption by 623% (76,172 vs 10,529 stars). photocraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; thumbor is written in Python under MIT. photocraft has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, thumbor 8%. 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 | thumbor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 14K | ⑂ 861 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick photocraft if
- You weight community size — 76K 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 thumbor if
- You want the thumbor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and thumbor 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…
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About thumbor
Join thumbor bootcamp for a learning and contribution experience with ❤️ and 🤗 from the thumbor team Crop, resize, transform and much more, all on demand and AI Powered thumbor is trusted by hundreds of companies worldwide and many more! thumbor is a smart imaging service that enables on demand cropping, resizing, applying filters and optimizing images. Cropping photos automatically can be a frustrating experience with severed heads involved. thumbor uses AI for smart detection. thumbor is an HTTP server and you can create as many different images as you want just by varying path parameters: You should see an…
read the full thumbor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is photocraft or thumbor more popular?
photocraft has 76,172 GitHub stars and thumbor has 10,529. photocraft has the larger community by that measure.
Are photocraft and thumbor free?
Both are open source. photocraft is licensed under Apache-2.0 and thumbor under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between photocraft and thumbor?
photocraft is written in Rust and thumbor in Python. 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 thumbor?
Choose photocraft if you want the larger community (76,172 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose thumbor if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.