head to head · open source
Godot vs lovr
Godot has 118,979 GitHub stars, 27,175 forks, 18,870 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. lovr has 2,614 stars, 177 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Godot leads on adoption by 4,452% (118,979 vs 2,614 stars). Godot is written in C++ under MIT; lovr is written in C under MIT. Godot has attracted 23% 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
| Godot | lovr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 119K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 27K | ⑂ 177 |
| 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 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 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 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 Godot or lovr more popular?
Godot has 118,979 GitHub stars and lovr has 2,614. Godot has the larger community by that measure.
Are Godot and lovr free?
Both are open source. Godot is licensed under MIT and lovr under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Godot and lovr?
Godot is written in C++ 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, Godot or lovr?
Choose Godot if you want the larger community (118,979 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lovr if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.