head to head · open source
sharp vs RapidRAW
sharp has 32,825 GitHub stars, 1,449 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. RapidRAW has 10,955 stars, 651 forks, 485 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. sharp leads on adoption by 200% (32,825 vs 10,955 stars). sharp is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; RapidRAW is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. sharp has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, RapidRAW 6%. RapidRAW 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 | RapidRAW | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 651 |
| 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 RapidRAW if
- You want the RapidRAW feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and RapidRAW 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 RapidRAW
RapidRAW A beautiful, non destructive, and GPU accelerated RAW image editor built with performance in mind. RapidRAW is a modern, high performance alternative to Adobe Lightroom®. It delivers a simple, beautiful editing experience in a lightweight package for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. I started developing this project as a personal challenge when I was 18. My goal was to create a high performance tool for my own photography workflow while deepening my understanding of React, WGSL and Rust. Download RapidRAW Get the latest release for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Packaged and ready to run…
read the full RapidRAW overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is sharp or RapidRAW more popular?
sharp has 32,825 GitHub stars and RapidRAW has 10,955. sharp has the larger community by that measure.
Are sharp and RapidRAW free?
Both are open source. sharp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and RapidRAW under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between sharp and RapidRAW?
sharp is written in JavaScript and RapidRAW 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 RapidRAW?
Choose sharp if you want the larger community (32,825 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose RapidRAW if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.