head to head · open source
sharp vs freecut
sharp has 32,821 GitHub stars, 1,448 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. freecut has 2,306 stars, 362 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. sharp leads on adoption by 1,323% (32,821 vs 2,306 stars). sharp is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; freecut is written in TypeScript under MIT. sharp has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, freecut 16%. 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 | freecut | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 362 |
| 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 freecut if
- You want the freecut feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and freecut 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 freecut
FreeCut freecut.net Edit videos. In your browser. FreeCut is a browser based, multi track video editor. No install, no uploads: projects and media stay local, while editing, preview, analysis, transcription, AI generation, and export run in the browser through WebGPU, WebCodecs, Web Workers, OPFS, and the File System Access API. FreeCut writes projects, linked media metadata, thumbnails, waveforms, generated AI assets, transcripts, scene cuts, and caches as plain files inside a workspace folder you choose on disk. User Guide New to FreeCut? Start with the user guide. Community Join the FreeCut Discord to share…
read the full freecut overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is sharp or freecut more popular?
sharp has 32,821 GitHub stars and freecut has 2,306. sharp has the larger community by that measure.
Are sharp and freecut free?
Both are open source. sharp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and freecut under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between sharp and freecut?
sharp is written in JavaScript and freecut 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, sharp or freecut?
Choose sharp if you want the larger community (32,821 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose freecut if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.