shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Home | Nannou?

An open-source creative-coding framework for Rust - nannou.cc

Depends. Best for developers who already write Rust and want a free, portable creative-coding framework; artists without Rust experience will hit documented onboarding bottlenecks and should use p5.js or Processing instead. Evidence is thin — under five relevant sources — so confidence is low.

Confidence

Low. Based on 4 relevant public sources; most returned search results were unrelated to Nannou.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo support evidence found
  • Security posture

Pricing

Free

Open source

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Rust developers making generative art
  • Artists already comfortable coding
  • Cross-platform interactive installations
  • Audio-visual sketching with zero license cost

Not for

  • Beginners with zero programming experience
  • Teams needing vendor support or SLAs
  • Rapid prototypers — compile times will frustrate
  • Non-Rust developers; is faster to start

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Guess: community-only support; no vendor SLA, paid tier, or published security policy

medium

Long compile times slow iteration; official workshops called them serious bottlenecks

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free and open-source; no license fees
  • Built so artists can write simple, fast, reliable, portable code
  • WebGPU rendering and easy frame capture since v0.13

Cons

  • Rust compile times and onboarding are documented bottlenecks for new users
  • Steep curve for artists without programming experience
  • No security page found on official site

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 4 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x2review x1security x1

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 4

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free and open-source; zero license cost
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Documented onboarding and build-time bottlenecks
  • Feature depth: 4/5. WebGPU, frame capture, portable code
  • Support quality. No support evidence found
  • Security posture: 2/5. No security page found on official site
  • Free Price Open-source framework
  • v0.13 Latest notable release Added WebGPU and frame capture
  • 0 User reviews found No review coverage in sources reviewed

Pricing

Open source

Free

  • Full framework included
  • No paid tiers found

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

User review coverage is absent; a maintainer GitHub thread documents build-time and onboarding bottlenecks for new users.

Full analysis

Based on 4 relevant public sources; most returned search results were unrelated to Nannou.

Free, open-source Rust creative-coding framework — great for Rust devs, painful for artists who don't code. Thin evidence.

Methodology

Based on 4 relevant public sources; most returned search results were unrelated to Nannou.

Sources

  1. Why Nannou?guide.nannou.cc
    official
  2. Nannou Update - WebGPU, capturing frames and more!nannou.cc
    official
  3. Reduce build times for both nannou and projects createdgithub.com
    review
  4. Security pagenannou.cc
    security

Rate this review

Anonymous. You can change your vote.

Loading votes…

Comments

One queue. No nested comments. Give a display name first. Limit: 200 words per comment and 7 comments per day. You can edit or delete yours.

Save a name to write a comment.

0 / 200 words

No comments yet.