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
7 hours agoRepository age
15 yearsVersion
5.6.1License
GPL-3.0Repository
darktable-org/darktable
RawTherapee
Last 30 days
Last commit
19 hours agoRepository age
11 yearsVersion
5.13License
GPL-3.0Repository
rawtherapee/rawtherapee
Detailed Comparison
Darktable appears to have several advantages over RawTherapee, particularly in popularity and maturity. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.
Darktable appears to have several advantages over RawTherapee, particularly in popularity and maturity. 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 13,184 stars compared to 4,196 stars on GitHub. This 3.1x difference suggests Darktable has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Darktable has 1,451 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.
Growth Momentum
Darktable and RawTherapee are moving at much the same rate, adding 166 stars and adding 44 stars respectively over the last 30 days (+1.3% vs +1.1%). Neither is pulling away from the other on momentum alone.
Development Activity
Both projects show recent activity, with Darktable last updated 7 hours ago and RawTherapee 19 hours 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 15 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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