head to head · open source
Shotcut vs pireel
Shotcut has 15,258 GitHub stars, 1,512 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pireel has 1,226 stars, 108 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Shotcut leads on adoption by 1,145% (15,258 vs 1,226 stars). Shotcut is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; pireel is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Shotcut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, pireel 9%. 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 | pireel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-22 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 108 |
| 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 pireel if
- You want the pireel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and pireel 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 pireel
Pireel is an open source AI video editor, positioned as the open source alternative to CapCut and ChatCut, that is built for both human editors and AI agents and can be driven by any AI agent over MCP.
read the full pireel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shotcut or pireel more popular?
Shotcut has 15,258 GitHub stars and pireel has 1,226. Shotcut has the larger community by that measure.
Are Shotcut and pireel free?
Both are open source. Shotcut is licensed under GPL-3.0 and pireel under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Shotcut and pireel?
Shotcut is written in C++ and pireel in TypeScript. 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 pireel?
Choose Shotcut if you want the larger community (15,258 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose pireel if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.