head to head · open source
sharp vs PhotoEditor
sharp has 32,817 GitHub stars, 1,447 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. PhotoEditor has 4,531 stars, 1,051 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. sharp leads on adoption by 624% (32,817 vs 4,531 stars). sharp is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; PhotoEditor is written in Kotlin under MIT. sharp has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, PhotoEditor 23%. 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 | PhotoEditor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-09-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 PhotoEditor if
- You want the PhotoEditor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and PhotoEditor 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 PhotoEditor
PhotoEditor A Photo Editor library with simple, easy support for image editing using Paints, Text, Filters, Emoji and Sticker like stories. Download link Features Drawing on image with option to change its Brush's Color, Size, Opacity, Erasing and basic shapes. Apply Filter Effect on image using MediaEffect Adding/Editing Text with option to change its Color with Custom Fonts. Adding Emoji with Custom Emoji Fonts. Adding Images/Stickers Pinch to Scale and Rotate views. Undo and Redo for Brush and Views. Deleting Views Saving Photo after editing. More FAQ . Lesson Learned from building successful android library…
read the full PhotoEditor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is sharp or PhotoEditor more popular?
sharp has 32,817 GitHub stars and PhotoEditor has 4,531. sharp has the larger community by that measure.
Are sharp and PhotoEditor free?
Both are open source. sharp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and PhotoEditor under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between sharp and PhotoEditor?
sharp is written in JavaScript and PhotoEditor 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 PhotoEditor?
Choose sharp if you want the larger community (32,817 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose PhotoEditor if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.