head to head · open source
Godot vs Excalibur
Godot has 119,457 GitHub stars, 27,336 forks, 18,870 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Excalibur has 2,361 stars, 228 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Godot leads on adoption by 4,960% (119,457 vs 2,361 stars). Godot is written in C++ under MIT; Excalibur is written in TypeScript under BSD-2-Clause. Godot has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, Excalibur 10%. Excalibur was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (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.
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Side by side
| Godot | Excalibur | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 119K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 27K | ⑂ 228 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Godot if
- You weight community size — 119K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Excalibur if
- You want the Excalibur feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Excalibur fits your workflow better
About Godot
Godot Engine 2D and 3D cross platform game engine Godot Engine is a feature packed, cross platform game engine to create 2D and 3D games from a unified interface. It provides a comprehensive set of common tools, so that users can focus on making games without having to reinvent the wheel. Games can be exported with one click to a number of platforms, including the major desktop platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows), mobile platforms (Android, iOS), as well as Web based platforms and consoles. Free, open source and community driven Godot is completely free and open source under the very permissive MIT license. No…
read the full Godot overview →
About Excalibur
[![Discord][discord badge]][discord url] [discord badge]: [discord url]: Excalibur is a free game engine written in TypeScript for making 2D games in HTML5 canvas. Our goal is to make it easier for you to create 2D HTML/JS games, whether you're new to game development or you're an experienced game developer. We take care of all of the boilerplate engine code, cross platform targeting (using browserstack 😎), and more! Use as much or as little as you need! Excalibur is an open source project licensed under the 2 clause BSD license (this means you can use it in commercial projects!). It's free and always will be…
read the full Excalibur overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Godot or Excalibur more popular?
Godot has 119,457 GitHub stars and Excalibur has 2,361. Godot has the larger community by that measure.
Are Godot and Excalibur free?
Both are open source. Godot is licensed under MIT and Excalibur under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Godot and Excalibur?
Godot is written in C++ and Excalibur in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Godot or Excalibur?
Choose Godot if you want the larger community (119,457 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Excalibur if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.