head to head · open source
rembg vs photon
rembg has 24,947 GitHub stars, 2,426 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. photon has 3,897 stars, 189 forks, 49 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. rembg leads on adoption by 540% (24,947 vs 3,897 stars). rembg is written in Python under MIT; photon is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. rembg has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, photon 5%. rembg was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (image-processing), 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
| rembg | photon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 3.9K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 189 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rembg if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick photon if
- You want the photon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and photon fits your workflow better
About rembg
Rembg is an MIT licensed Python tool for removing image backgrounds, usable as a CLI, a Python library, an HTTP server, or a Docker container, and aimed at developers, designers, and automated image pipelines that need background removal without depending on a hosted service.
read the full rembg overview →
About photon
photon is an open source Rust library that compiles to WebAssembly for fast image processing in the browser, on Node, or natively, aimed at developers who need to apply image effects from their own applications.
read the full photon overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rembg or photon more popular?
rembg has 24,947 GitHub stars and photon has 3,897. rembg has the larger community by that measure.
Are rembg and photon free?
Both are open source. rembg is licensed under MIT and photon under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rembg and photon?
rembg is written in Python and photon in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, rembg or photon?
Choose rembg if you want the larger community (24,947 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose photon if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.