head to head · open source
sharp vs FairScan
sharp has 32,784 GitHub stars, 1,446 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. FairScan has 969 stars, 62 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. sharp leads on adoption by 3,283% (32,784 vs 969 stars). sharp is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; FairScan is written in Kotlin under GPL-3.0. sharp has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, FairScan 6%. sharp 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
| sharp | FairScan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 969 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-10-21 | 2026-10-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 62 |
| 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 FairScan if
- You want the FairScan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and FairScan fits your workflow better
About sharp
sharp The typical use case for this high speed Node API module is to convert large images in common formats to smaller, web friendly JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF and AVIF images of varying dimensions. It can be used with all JavaScript runtimes that provide support for Node API v9, including Node.js ( = 20.9.0), Deno and Bun. Resizing an image is typically 4x 5x faster than using the quickest ImageMagick and GraphicsMagick settings due to its use of libvips. Colour spaces, embedded ICC profiles and alpha transparency channels are all handled correctly. Lanczos resampling ensures quality is not sacrificed for speed. As…
read the full sharp overview →
About FairScan
FairScan An Android app to scan your documents — simple and respectful . Get it on: F Droid · Google Play · GitHub FairScan is an Android app to scan documents quickly, easily and privately . It's designed to be simple : users get a clean, shareable PDF in seconds, with no manual adjustments. And respectful : open source, minimal permissions, no tracking, no ads. Website: Blog: Contributing Contributions are welcome, but please read the guidelines first: CONTRIBUTING.md Translations Translations are managed on Weblate, and everyone is welcome to contribute. Start translating: Screenshots Features Clear…
read the full FairScan overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is sharp or FairScan more popular?
sharp has 32,784 GitHub stars and FairScan has 969. sharp has the larger community by that measure.
Are sharp and FairScan free?
Both are open source. sharp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and FairScan under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between sharp and FairScan?
sharp is written in JavaScript and FairScan in Kotlin. 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 FairScan?
Choose sharp if you want the larger community (32,784 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose FairScan if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.