head to head · open source
Shotcut vs Foxel
Shotcut has 15,270 GitHub stars, 1,513 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Foxel has 1,063 stars, 92 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Shotcut leads on adoption by 1,337% (15,270 vs 1,063 stars). Shotcut is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; Foxel is written in Python under MIT. Shotcut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Foxel 9%. 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 | Foxel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-22 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 92 |
| 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 Foxel if
- You want the Foxel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Foxel 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 Foxel
Foxel is an MIT licensed, self hosted private cloud storage server for individuals and teams that gathers files spread across local disks, S3 compatible buckets, WebDAV, SFTP, FTP and consumer cloud drives into one interface and adds AI powered semantic search over images, documents and other unstructured content.
read the full Foxel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shotcut or Foxel more popular?
Shotcut has 15,270 GitHub stars and Foxel has 1,063. Shotcut has the larger community by that measure.
Are Shotcut and Foxel free?
Both are open source. Shotcut is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Foxel under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Shotcut and Foxel?
Shotcut is written in C++ and Foxel 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, Shotcut or Foxel?
Choose Shotcut if you want the larger community (15,270 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Foxel if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.