head to head · open source
aframe vs MonoGame
aframe has 17,686 GitHub stars, 4,405 forks, 338 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. MonoGame has 14,602 stars, 3,119 forks, 766 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aframe leads on adoption by 21% (17,686 vs 14,602 stars). aframe is written in JavaScript under MIT; MonoGame is written in C# under a custom or non-standard licence. aframe has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, MonoGame 21%. MonoGame was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (3d, 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| aframe | MonoGame | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | JavaScript | C# |
| Last push | 2026-07-13 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick aframe if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick MonoGame if
- You want the MonoGame feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and MonoGame fits your workflow better
About aframe
A Frame A web framework for building browser based 3D, AR and VR experiences. Site — Docs — Examples — School — Community Examples Find more examples on the homepage, A Week of A Frame, and WebVR Directory. Features :eyeglasses: Virtual Reality Made Simple : A Frame handles the 3D and WebXR boilerplate required to get running across platforms including mobile, desktop, and all headsets (compatible with a WebXR capable browser) just by dropping in . :heart: Declarative HTML : HTML is easy to read and copy and paste. Since A Frame can be used from HTML, A Frame is accessible to everyone…
read the full aframe overview →
About MonoGame
MonoGame One framework for creating powerful cross platform games Supported Platforms • Resources • Samples • Support and Contributions • Source Code • Helpful Links • License Overview MonoGame is a simple and powerful .NET framework for creating games for desktop PCs, video game consoles, and mobile devices using the C programming language. It has been successfully used to create games such as Streets of Rage 4, Carrion, Celeste, Stardew Valley, and many others. It is an open source re implementation of the discontinued Microsoft's XNA Framework. Supported Platforms We support a growing list of platforms across…
read the full MonoGame overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Gaming projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Gaming field.
Frequently asked questions
Is aframe or MonoGame more popular?
aframe has 17,686 GitHub stars and MonoGame has 14,602. aframe has the larger community by that measure.
Are aframe and MonoGame free?
Both are open source. aframe is licensed under MIT, and MonoGame has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between aframe and MonoGame?
aframe is written in JavaScript and MonoGame 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, aframe or MonoGame?
Choose aframe if you want the larger community (17,686 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose MonoGame if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.