head to head · open source
GDevelop vs lovr
GDevelop has 27,959 GitHub stars, 1,617 forks, 633 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. lovr has 2,614 stars, 177 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. GDevelop leads on adoption by 970% (27,959 vs 2,614 stars). GDevelop is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence; lovr is written in C under MIT. GDevelop has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, lovr 7%. lovr 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, 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.
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Side by side
| GDevelop | lovr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 177 |
| 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 lovr if
- You want the lovr feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and lovr 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 lovr
LÖVR A simple Lua framework for rapidly building 3D games and VR experiences. Homepage Documentation FAQ Features Cross Platform Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Cross Device Supports any headset that works with OpenXR, and has a keyboard/mouse VR simulator. Beginner friendly Simple scenes can be created in just a few lines of Lua. Fast Written in C11 and scripted with LuaJIT, includes optimized single pass stereo rendering. Tiny The whole framework is just a couple of megabytes, and it's easy to disable/remove modules. Powerful GPU APIs Compute shaders, ray tracing, indirect rendering, atomics, and…
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Frequently asked questions
Is GDevelop or lovr more popular?
GDevelop has 27,959 GitHub stars and lovr has 2,614. GDevelop has the larger community by that measure.
Are GDevelop and lovr free?
Both are open source. GDevelop has no licence declared in this registry, and lovr is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between GDevelop and lovr?
GDevelop is written in JavaScript and lovr 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 lovr?
Choose GDevelop if you want the larger community (27,959 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose lovr if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.