head to head · open source
sharp vs Kdenlive
sharp has 32,695 GitHub stars, 1,437 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kdenlive has 5,713 stars, 517 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped today. sharp leads on adoption by 472% (32,695 vs 5,713 stars). sharp is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; Kdenlive is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. sharp has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, Kdenlive 9%. Kdenlive 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 | Kdenlive | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 5.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 517 |
| 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 Kdenlive if
- You want the Kdenlive feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Kdenlive 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 Kdenlive
Kdenlive is a free and open source video editor written in C++, released under the GPL 3.0 license, and developed as part of the KDE ecosystem. It builds on the MLT framework for its editing and playback engine, uses Qt and KDE Frameworks 6 for its graphical interface, and draws on frei0r for video effects and LADSPA for audio effects. The project lives within KDE's development infrastructure, with its primary repository hosted on KDE Invent and a GitHub mirror maintained for visibility, and it is distributed through the official kdenlive.org website.
read the full Kdenlive overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is sharp or Kdenlive more popular?
sharp has 32,695 GitHub stars and Kdenlive has 5,713. sharp has the larger community by that measure.
Are sharp and Kdenlive free?
Both are open source. sharp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Kdenlive under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between sharp and Kdenlive?
sharp is written in JavaScript and Kdenlive in C++. 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 Kdenlive?
Choose sharp if you want the larger community (32,695 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Kdenlive if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.