head to head · open source
Shotcut vs palmier-pro
Shotcut has 15,242 GitHub stars, 1,510 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. palmier-pro has 14,437 stars, 1,121 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Shotcut leads on adoption by 6% (15,242 vs 14,437 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 | ★ 15K | ★ 14K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 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 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 palmier-pro
Palmier Pro is a Swift native macOS video editor with built in generative AI and a Model Context Protocol server, aimed at Apple Silicon editors who want agents such as Claude, Codex, or Cursor to create and edit directly on the timeline.
read the full palmier-pro overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shotcut or palmier-pro more popular?
Shotcut has 15,242 GitHub stars and palmier-pro has 14,437. 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 (15,242 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.