head to head · open source
Godot vs melonJS
Godot has 118,083 GitHub stars, 26,924 forks, 18,870 open issues and last shipped yesterday. melonJS has 6,399 stars, 662 forks, 20 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Godot leads on adoption by 1,745% (118,083 vs 6,399 stars). Godot is written in C++ under MIT; melonJS is written in JavaScript under MIT. Godot has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, melonJS 10%. Godot 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 | melonJS | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 118K | ★ 6.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 27K | ⑂ 662 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Godot if
- You weight community size — 118K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick melonJS if
- You want the melonJS feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and melonJS fits your workflow better
About Godot
Godot Engine is a free, MIT licensed, cross platform 2D and 3D game engine that ships an editor, a class reference, export templates, and one click deployment to desktop, mobile, web and console targets, aimed at game developers who want to own their toolchain and their games without royalties.
read the full Godot overview →
About melonJS
melonJS is a modern, lightweight HTML5 2.5D game engine for indie developers and web game programmers who want a full game stack in a single dependency free ES module.
read the full melonJS overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Godot or melonJS more popular?
Godot has 118,083 GitHub stars and melonJS has 6,399. Godot has the larger community by that measure.
Are Godot and melonJS free?
Both are open source. Godot is licensed under MIT and melonJS under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Godot and melonJS?
Godot is written in C++ and melonJS in JavaScript. 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 melonJS?
Choose Godot if you want the larger community (118,083 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose melonJS if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.