head to head · open source
bevy vs permafrost-engine
bevy has 49,195 GitHub stars, 4,955 forks, 3,418 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. permafrost-engine has 2,768 stars, 121 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. bevy leads on adoption by 1,677% (49,195 vs 2,768 stars). bevy is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; permafrost-engine is written in C under GPL-3.0. bevy has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, permafrost-engine 4%. bevy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| bevy | permafrost-engine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 49K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-21 | 2026-10-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 121 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick bevy if
- You weight community size — 49K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick permafrost-engine if
- You want the permafrost-engine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and permafrost-engine fits your workflow better
About bevy
What is Bevy? Bevy is a refreshingly simple data driven game engine built in Rust. It is free and open source forever! WARNING Bevy is still in the early stages of development. Important features are missing. Documentation is sparse. A new version of Bevy containing breaking changes to the API is released approximately once every 3 months. We provide migration guides, but we can't guarantee migrations will always be easy. Use only if you are willing to work in this environment. MSRV: Bevy relies heavily on improvements in the Rust language and compiler. As a result, the Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV) is…
About permafrost-engine
Support the Development Wishlist EVERGLORY on Steam Permafrost Engine is an OpenGL 3.3 Real Time Strategy game engine written in C. It is made in the image of old classics, but incorporating some modern ideas. Engine Showcase EVERGLORY is the flagship game developed using Permafrost Engine. Download the free demo on Steam. With the demo you also get access to all the scripts powering the gameplay to learn from and modify as you wish. Engine Summary OpenGL 3.3 programmable pipeline (more modern extensions used where available) Custom text model format for interoperability with tools; baked binary format for fast…
read the full permafrost-engine overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Gaming projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Gaming field.
Frequently asked questions
Is bevy or permafrost-engine more popular?
bevy has 49,195 GitHub stars and permafrost-engine has 2,768. bevy has the larger community by that measure.
Are bevy and permafrost-engine free?
Both are open source. bevy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and permafrost-engine under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bevy and permafrost-engine?
bevy is written in Rust and permafrost-engine 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, bevy or permafrost-engine?
Choose bevy if you want the larger community (49,195 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose permafrost-engine if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.