head to head · open source
GDevelop vs corona
GDevelop has 27,786 GitHub stars, 1,604 forks, 633 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. corona has 2,894 stars, 317 forks, 200 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. GDevelop leads on adoption by 860% (27,786 vs 2,894 stars). GDevelop is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence; corona is written in C++ under MIT. GDevelop has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, corona 11%. GDevelop was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (game, 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.
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Side by side
| GDevelop | corona | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-20 | 2026-10-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 317 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick GDevelop if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick corona if
- You want the corona feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and corona fits your workflow better
About GDevelop
GDevelop is a full featured, no code, open source game development software. You can build 2D, 3D and multiplayer games for mobile (iOS, Android), desktop and the web. GDevelop is designed to be fast and incredibly intuitive: make games using an easy to understand yet powerful event based system and modular behaviors. Create with AI that assists or builds alongside you. Getting started Are you interested in contributing to GDevelop for the first time? Take a look at the list of good first issues , good first contributions or the "🏐 not too hard" cards on the Roadmap. Games made with GDevelop Find GDevelop games…
read the full GDevelop overview →
About corona
Solar2D Game Engine Download the latest build from the Releases page and join the community on Discord and the forums. Rebranded Corona SDK Simple to learn and use, completely free and open source 2D game engine. Easy to learn & powerful Solar2D is a cross platform framework which is ideal for rapidly creating apps and games for mobile devices, TV, desktop systems and HTML5. That means you can create your project once and publish it to multiple devices, including Apple iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets, Amazon Fire, Mac Desktop, Windows Desktop, Linux, HTML5 and even connected TVs such as Apple TV…
read the full corona overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is GDevelop or corona more popular?
GDevelop has 27,786 GitHub stars and corona has 2,894. GDevelop has the larger community by that measure.
Are GDevelop and corona free?
Both are open source. GDevelop has no licence declared in this registry, and corona is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between GDevelop and corona?
GDevelop is written in JavaScript and corona 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, GDevelop or corona?
Choose GDevelop if you want the larger community (27,786 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose corona if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.