head to head · open source
manim vs primitives
manim has 94,113 GitHub stars, 7,732 forks, 500 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. primitives has 19,309 stars, 1,247 forks, 356 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. manim leads on adoption by 387% (94,113 vs 19,309 stars). manim is written in Python under MIT; primitives is written in TypeScript under MIT. manim has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, primitives 6%. manim 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
| manim | primitives | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 94K | ★ 19K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-08-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.7K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick manim if
- You weight community size — 94K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick primitives if
- You want the primitives feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and primitives fits your workflow better
About manim
Manim is a Python animation engine for precise, programmatic rendering of explanatory mathematics videos, built for educators, mathematicians, and developers who want frame accurate control over every element of a mathematical animation instead of editing on a timeline.
read the full manim overview →
About primitives
Radix Primitives is an MIT licensed, TypeScript UI component library for React, maintained by WorkOS, that gives teams building design systems and web apps low level components focused on accessibility, customization and developer experience.
read the full primitives overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is manim or primitives more popular?
manim has 94,113 GitHub stars and primitives has 19,309. manim has the larger community by that measure.
Are manim and primitives free?
Both are open source. manim is licensed under MIT and primitives under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between manim and primitives?
manim is written in Python and primitives 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, manim or primitives?
Choose manim if you want the larger community (94,113 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose primitives if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.