head to head · open source
sharp vs rembg
sharp has 32,692 GitHub stars, 1,436 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. rembg has 24,796 stars, 2,423 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. sharp leads on adoption by 32% (32,692 vs 24,796 stars). sharp is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; rembg is written in Python under MIT. sharp has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, rembg 10%. 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 | rembg | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 25K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 2.4K |
| 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 rembg if
- You want the rembg feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and rembg 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 rembg
Rembg is an MIT licensed Python tool for removing image backgrounds, usable as a CLI, a Python library, an HTTP server, or a Docker container, and aimed at developers, designers, and automated image pipelines that need background removal without depending on a hosted service.
read the full rembg overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is sharp or rembg more popular?
sharp has 32,692 GitHub stars and rembg has 24,796. sharp has the larger community by that measure.
Are sharp and rembg free?
Both are open source. sharp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and rembg under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between sharp and rembg?
sharp is written in JavaScript and rembg in Python. 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 rembg?
Choose sharp if you want the larger community (32,692 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose rembg if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.