head to head · open source
GDevelop vs flame
GDevelop has 26,965 GitHub stars, 1,562 forks, 633 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flame has 10,773 stars, 1,043 forks, 90 open issues and last shipped yesterday. GDevelop leads on adoption by 150% (26,965 vs 10,773 stars). GDevelop is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence; flame is written in Dart under MIT. GDevelop has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, flame 10%. flame was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (game, 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| GDevelop | flame | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 11K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick GDevelop if
- You weight community size — 27K 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 flame if
- You want the flame feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and flame fits your workflow better
About GDevelop
GDevelop is an open source, cross platform game engine and editor for creating 2D, 3D, and multiplayer games without writing code. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and targets mobile (iOS, Android), desktop, and web platforms. Built with JavaScript, React, Electron, PixiJS, and Three.js, it combines a visual event based system with AI assisted development to lower the barrier to entry for game creation.
read the full GDevelop overview →
About flame
Flame is a Flutter based game engine distributed as an MIT licensed Dart package, built for Flutter developers who want to write 2D games in Dart without hand rolling a game loop, component system, and rendering utilities themselves.
read the full flame overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Gaming projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Gaming field.
Frequently asked questions
Is GDevelop or flame more popular?
GDevelop has 26,965 GitHub stars and flame has 10,773. GDevelop has the larger community by that measure.
Are GDevelop and flame free?
Both are open source. GDevelop has no licence declared in this registry, and flame is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between GDevelop and flame?
GDevelop is written in JavaScript and flame in Dart. 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 flame?
Choose GDevelop if you want the larger community (26,965 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose flame if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.