Darktable vs RawTherapee
Learn how Darktable and RawTherapee differ in their key features, development activity, technology
stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these photo editing software is best for you.
Learn how Darktable and RawTherapee differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these photo editing software is best for you.
Darktable
Last 30 days
Last commit
11 hours agoRepository age
14 yearsVersion
5.6.1License
GPL-3.0Repository
darktable-org/darktable
RawTherapee
Last 30 days
Last commit
16 days agoRepository age
11 yearsVersion
5.13License
GPL-3.0Repository
rawtherapee/rawtherapee
Detailed Comparison
Both Darktable and RawTherapee have their unique strengths and serve similar purposes effectively. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.
Both Darktable and RawTherapee have their unique strengths and serve similar purposes effectively. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.
Community & Popularity
Darktable significantly outpaces RawTherapee in community adoption with 13,061 stars compared to 4,169 stars on GitHub. This 3.1x difference suggests Darktable has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Darktable has 1,425 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.
Growth Momentum
RawTherapee is growing faster, adding 60 stars in the last 30 days (+1.5%) against adding 127 stars for Darktable (+1%). RawTherapee is the smaller project of the two, so it is closing the gap rather than extending a lead.
Development Activity
Both projects show recent activity, with Darktable last updated 11 hours ago and RawTherapee 16 days ago.
Technology Stack
Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with CSS, Bash, Python, C, Objective-C, C++, Perl. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Darktable uses JavaScript, Ruby, Lua while RawTherapee leverages C#.
Project Maturity
Darktable has been in development longer, starting 14 years ago, compared to RawTherapee which began 11 years ago. This 3.4-year head start suggests Darktable may have more mature features and established processes.
Licensing
Both projects use the GPL-3.0 license, providing identical terms for usage and distribution.
Use Cases & Features
Both tools serve similar use cases in Photo Editors.
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