head to head · open source
sharp vs better-shot
sharp has 32,693 GitHub stars, 1,436 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. better-shot has 2,303 stars, 137 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. sharp leads on adoption by 1,320% (32,693 vs 2,303 stars). sharp is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; better-shot is written in Swift under BSD-3-Clause. sharp has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, better-shot 6%. sharp 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
| sharp | better-shot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | JavaScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 137 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick sharp if
- You weight community size — 33K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick better-shot if
- You want the better-shot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and better-shot fits your workflow better
About sharp
sharp is a high performance Node.js image processing library that converts large images in common formats into smaller, web friendly JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF and AVIF files, and it is built for JavaScript developers who need fast, dependency light resizing inside Node.js, Deno or Bun applications.
read the full sharp overview →
About better-shot
BetterShot is a native macOS app for screenshots, screen recording, and video editing, built for Mac users who want the capture workflow of CleanShot X and Loom without a subscription, an account, or telemetry.
read the full better-shot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is sharp or better-shot more popular?
sharp has 32,693 GitHub stars and better-shot has 2,303. sharp has the larger community by that measure.
Are sharp and better-shot free?
Both are open source. sharp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and better-shot under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between sharp and better-shot?
sharp is written in JavaScript and better-shot in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, sharp or better-shot?
Choose sharp if you want the larger community (32,693 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose better-shot if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.