head to head · open source
Shotcut vs ai-video-editor
Shotcut has 15,270 GitHub stars, 1,513 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. ai-video-editor has 859 stars, 108 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Shotcut leads on adoption by 1,678% (15,270 vs 859 stars). Shotcut is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; ai-video-editor is written in JavaScript under MIT. Shotcut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, ai-video-editor 13%. Shotcut 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
| Shotcut | ai-video-editor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 859 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-22 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 108 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Shotcut if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ai-video-editor if
- You want the ai-video-editor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and ai-video-editor fits your workflow better
About Shotcut
Shotcut is a free, open source, cross platform video editor written in C++ and released under the GPL 3.0 license. It lives in the Qt and MLT ecosystem, using Qt for its application and user interface and MLT as its multimedia authoring framework. It provides regularly built binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows, and is positioned as an open alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve (Studio).
read the full Shotcut overview →
About ai-video-editor
Timeline Studio, published on GitHub as ai video editor, is an MIT licensed, local first video editor that runs in the browser, built for creators and AI agent developers who edit the same real multi track timeline.
read the full ai-video-editor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shotcut or ai-video-editor more popular?
Shotcut has 15,270 GitHub stars and ai-video-editor has 859. Shotcut has the larger community by that measure.
Are Shotcut and ai-video-editor free?
Both are open source. Shotcut is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ai-video-editor under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Shotcut and ai-video-editor?
Shotcut is written in C++ and ai-video-editor in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Shotcut or ai-video-editor?
Choose Shotcut if you want the larger community (15,270 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ai-video-editor if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.