head to head · open source
Concat vs Shotcut
Concat has 17,108 GitHub stars, 2,117 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Shotcut has 15,661 stars, 1,565 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Concat leads on adoption by 9% (17,108 vs 15,661 stars). Concat is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; Shotcut is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Concat has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Shotcut 10%. Concat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (video-editor), 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
| Concat | Shotcut | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 16K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-12 | 2026-11-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Concat if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Shotcut if
- You want the Shotcut feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Shotcut fits your workflow better
About Concat
Concat The truly free, and open source cross platform CapCut replacement. Your logo here Sponsor Concat and your name, logo and link take this slot Your logo here Sponsor Concat and your name, logo and link take this slot Your logo here Sponsor Concat and your name, logo and link take this slot Your logo here Sponsor Concat and your name, logo and link take this slot Your logo here Sponsor Concat and your name, logo and link take this slot Your logo here Sponsor Concat and your name, logo and link take this slot About Concat is a free, open source video editor and a CapCut alternative for macOS, Windows, Linux…
read the full Concat overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Concat or Shotcut more popular?
Concat has 17,108 GitHub stars and Shotcut has 15,661. Concat has the larger community by that measure.
Are Concat and Shotcut free?
Both are open source. Concat is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Shotcut under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Concat and Shotcut?
Concat is written in Rust and Shotcut in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Concat or Shotcut?
Choose Concat if you want the larger community (17,108 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Shotcut if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.