head to head · open source
Shotcut vs RawTherapee
Shotcut has 15,577 GitHub stars, 1,558 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped yesterday. RawTherapee has 4,265 stars, 428 forks, 1,028 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Shotcut leads on adoption by 265% (15,577 vs 4,265 stars). Shotcut is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; RawTherapee is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Shotcut has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, RawTherapee 10%. 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 | RawTherapee | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 428 |
| 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 RawTherapee if
- You want the RawTherapee 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 RawTherapee 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 RawTherapee
RawTherapee is a powerful, cross platform raw photo processing program, released as libre software under the GNU General Public License Version 3. It is written mostly in C++ using a GTK+ front end. It uses a patched version of dcraw for reading raw files, with an in house solution which adds the highest quality support for certain camera models unsupported by dcraw and enhances the accuracy of certain raw files already supported by dcraw. It is notable for the advanced control it gives the user over the demosaicing and development process. Target Audience RawTherapee is designed for developing raw files from a…
read the full RawTherapee overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Shotcut or RawTherapee more popular?
Shotcut has 15,577 GitHub stars and RawTherapee has 4,265. Shotcut has the larger community by that measure.
Are Shotcut and RawTherapee free?
Both are open source. Shotcut is licensed under GPL-3.0 and RawTherapee under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Shotcut and RawTherapee?
Shotcut is written in C++ and RawTherapee 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, Shotcut or RawTherapee?
Choose Shotcut if you want the larger community (15,577 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose RawTherapee if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.