head to head · open source
OpenRA vs engine
OpenRA has 17,742 GitHub stars, 3,111 forks, 1,598 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. engine has 17,229 stars, 2,051 forks, 471 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenRA leads on adoption by 3% (17,742 vs 17,229 stars). OpenRA is written in C# under GPL-3.0; engine is written in JavaScript under MIT. OpenRA has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, engine 12%. engine was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (game-engine, hacktoberfest), 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
| OpenRA | engine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 17K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C# | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-28 | 2026-11-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenRA if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick engine if
- You want the engine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and engine fits your workflow better
About OpenRA
OpenRA A Libre/Free Real Time Strategy game engine supporting early Westwood classics. Website: Chat: openra on Libera (web) or Discord Repository: Please read the FAQ in our Wiki and report problems at Join the Forum for discussion. Play Distributed mods include a reimagining of Command & Conquer: Red Alert Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn Dune 2000 EA has not endorsed and does not support this product. Check our Playing the Game Guide to win multiplayer matches. Contribute Please read INSTALL.md and Compiling on how to set up an OpenRA development environment. See Hacking for a (now very outdated) overview of…
read the full OpenRA overview →
About engine
PlayCanvas Engine PlayCanvas is an open source game engine built on WebGL2 and WebGPU. Use it to create interactive 3D apps, games and visualizations that run in any browser on any device. English 中文 日本語 한글 Install Or scaffold a full project in seconds with create playcanvas : Usage Here's a super simple Hello World example a spinning cube! Want to play with the code yourself? Edit it on CodePen. A full guide to setting up a local development environment based on the PlayCanvas Engine can be found here. Features PlayCanvas is a fully featured game engine. 🧊 Graphics Advanced 2D + 3D graphics engine built on…
read the full 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 OpenRA or engine more popular?
OpenRA has 17,742 GitHub stars and engine has 17,229. OpenRA has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenRA and engine free?
Both are open source. OpenRA is licensed under GPL-3.0 and engine under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenRA and engine?
OpenRA is written in C# and engine in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenRA or engine?
Choose OpenRA if you want the larger community (17,742 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose engine if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.