head to head · open source
Shotcut vs palmier-pro
Shotcut has 15,597 GitHub stars, 1,561 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped yesterday. palmier-pro has 14,684 stars, 1,156 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Shotcut leads on adoption by 6% (15,597 vs 14,684 stars). Shotcut is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; palmier-pro is written in Swift under GPL-3.0. Shotcut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, palmier-pro 8%. Shotcut 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
| Shotcut | palmier-pro | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 15K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 palmier-pro if
- You want the palmier-pro feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and palmier-pro 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 palmier-pro
[!IMPORTANT] Palmier Pro releases through v0.7.6, and source code through last gpl source , were published under GPLv3. Later binary releases are proprietary, and their corresponding source is not published. This repository preserves the historical source and hosts current binary releases and update metadata. Palmier Pro The video editor built for AI. Requires macOS 26 (Tahoe) on Apple Silicon English · Español · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Tiếng Việt · हिन्दी · বাংলা · العربية · Italiano · Português (Brasil) · Français · Русский · Türkçe Palmier Pro is a macOS video editor with built in AI generation and MCP…
read the full palmier-pro overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shotcut or palmier-pro more popular?
Shotcut has 15,597 GitHub stars and palmier-pro has 14,684. Shotcut has the larger community by that measure.
Are Shotcut and palmier-pro free?
Both are open source. Shotcut is licensed under GPL-3.0 and palmier-pro under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Shotcut and palmier-pro?
Shotcut is written in C++ and palmier-pro in Swift. 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 palmier-pro?
Choose Shotcut if you want the larger community (15,597 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose palmier-pro if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.