head to head · open source
Babylon.js vs MonoGame
Babylon.js has 26,293 GitHub stars, 3,722 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. MonoGame has 14,602 stars, 3,121 forks, 766 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Babylon.js leads on adoption by 80% (26,293 vs 14,602 stars). Babylon.js is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; MonoGame is written in C# under a custom or non-standard licence. Babylon.js has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, MonoGame 21%. MonoGame was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (3d, game-development, game-engine), 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
| Babylon.js | MonoGame | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.7K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Babylon.js if
- You weight community size — 26K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick MonoGame if
- You want the MonoGame feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and MonoGame fits your workflow better
About Babylon.js
Babylon.js Getting started? Play directly with the Babylon.js API using our playground. It also contains a lot of samples to learn how to use it. Any questions? Here is our official forum. CDN ⚠️ WARNING: The CDN should not be used in production environments. The purpose of our CDN is to serve Babylon packages to users learning how to use the platform or running small experiments. Once you've built an application and are ready to share it with the world at large, you should serve all packages from your own CDN. For the preview release, use the following URLs: A list of additional references can be found here…
read the full Babylon.js overview →
About MonoGame
MonoGame One framework for creating powerful cross platform games Supported Platforms • Resources • Samples • Support and Contributions • Source Code • Helpful Links • License Overview MonoGame is a simple and powerful .NET framework for creating games for desktop PCs, video game consoles, and mobile devices using the C programming language. It has been successfully used to create games such as Streets of Rage 4, Carrion, Celeste, Stardew Valley, and many others. It is an open source re implementation of the discontinued Microsoft's XNA Framework. Supported Platforms We support a growing list of platforms across…
read the full MonoGame overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Babylon.js or MonoGame more popular?
Babylon.js has 26,293 GitHub stars and MonoGame has 14,602. Babylon.js has the larger community by that measure.
Are Babylon.js and MonoGame free?
Both are open source. Babylon.js is licensed under Apache-2.0, and MonoGame has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Babylon.js and MonoGame?
Babylon.js is written in TypeScript and MonoGame 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, Babylon.js or MonoGame?
Choose Babylon.js if you want the larger community (26,293 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose MonoGame if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.