head to head · open source
Godot vs raylib
Godot has 117,424 GitHub stars, 26,796 forks, 18,870 open issues and last shipped yesterday. raylib has 34,783 stars, 3,299 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Godot leads on adoption by 238% (117,424 vs 34,783 stars). Godot is written in C++ under MIT; raylib is written in C under Zlib. Godot has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, raylib 9%. 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 | raylib | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 117K | ★ 35K |
| License | MIT | Zlib |
| Written in | C++ | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 27K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Godot if
- You weight community size — 117K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick raylib if
- You want the raylib feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and raylib 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 raylib
raylib is an open source, Zlib licensed C programming library for building videogames and graphical applications, aimed at programmers who would rather write code directly than work inside a visual game engine editor.
read the full raylib overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Godot or raylib more popular?
Godot has 117,424 GitHub stars and raylib has 34,783. Godot has the larger community by that measure.
Are Godot and raylib free?
Both are open source. Godot is licensed under MIT and raylib under Zlib. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Godot and raylib?
Godot is written in C++ and raylib 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 raylib?
Choose Godot if you want the larger community (117,424 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose raylib if its feature set, stack or Zlib licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.