head to head · open source
aframe vs ebiten
aframe has 17,686 GitHub stars, 4,405 forks, 338 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. ebiten has 13,606 stars, 801 forks, 296 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aframe leads on adoption by 30% (17,686 vs 13,606 stars). aframe is written in JavaScript under MIT; ebiten is written in Go under Apache-2.0. aframe has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, ebiten 6%. ebiten was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (game-development, game-engine, gamedev), 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
| aframe | ebiten | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 14K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-13 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 801 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick aframe if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ebiten if
- You want the ebiten feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and ebiten fits your workflow better
About aframe
A Frame A web framework for building browser based 3D, AR and VR experiences. Site — Docs — Examples — School — Community Examples Find more examples on the homepage, A Week of A Frame, and WebVR Directory. Features :eyeglasses: Virtual Reality Made Simple : A Frame handles the 3D and WebXR boilerplate required to get running across platforms including mobile, desktop, and all headsets (compatible with a WebXR capable browser) just by dropping in . :heart: Declarative HTML : HTML is easy to read and copy and paste. Since A Frame can be used from HTML, A Frame is accessible to everyone…
read the full aframe overview →
About ebiten
Ebitengine (v2) A dead simple 2D game engine for Go Ebitengine (formerly known as Ebiten) is an open source game engine for the Go programming language. Ebitengine's simple API allows you to quickly and easily develop 2D games that can be deployed across multiple platforms. Website (ebitengine.org) API Reference Cheat Sheet Awesome Ebitengine Platforms Windows macOS Linux FreeBSD Android (Cgo required) iOS (Cgo required) WebAssembly Nintendo Switch (Cgo required) Xbox (Cgo required) (Xbox support is limited and not available to everyone. Negotiations are currently underway to make it accessible to all.) For…
read the full ebiten overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is aframe or ebiten more popular?
aframe has 17,686 GitHub stars and ebiten has 13,606. aframe has the larger community by that measure.
Are aframe and ebiten free?
Both are open source. aframe is licensed under MIT and ebiten under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between aframe and ebiten?
aframe is written in JavaScript and ebiten in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, aframe or ebiten?
Choose aframe if you want the larger community (17,686 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ebiten if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.