head to head · open source
Shotcut vs ai-video-editor
Shotcut has 15,628 GitHub stars, 1,561 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. ai-video-editor has 949 stars, 126 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Shotcut leads on adoption by 1,547% (15,628 vs 949 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%. ai-video-editor 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 | ★ 16K | ★ 949 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 126 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Shotcut if
- You weight community size — 16K 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 a free, open source, cross platform video editor Features: Roadmap: Install Binaries are regularly built and are available at Contributors Dan Dennedy : main author Brian Matherly : contributor Dependencies Shotcut's direct (linked or hard runtime) dependencies are: MLT: multimedia authoring framework Qt 6 (6.4 minimum): application and UI framework FFTW FFmpeg: multimedia format and codec libraries Frei0r: video plugins SDL: cross platform audio playback See for a more complete list including indirect and bundled dependencies. License GPLv3. See COPYING. How to build Warning : building Shotcut should…
read the full Shotcut overview →
About ai-video-editor
Timeline Studio — Browser AI Video Editor English 中文 日本語 한국어 Español Français Deutsch Português ไทย Tiếng Việt Русский Responsible use of deep synthesis This tool uses deep synthesis technology and is intended solely for technical research and learning. Users must ensure that they: use only facial images or videos of themselves or people who have provided lawful authorization; do not create or distribute any illegal, infringing, false, or misleading content; do not present generated content as authentic footage or impersonate another person without their consent. Users are solely responsible for any legal…
read the full ai-video-editor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shotcut or ai-video-editor more popular?
Shotcut has 15,628 GitHub stars and ai-video-editor has 949. 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 (15,628 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.