head to head · open source
MonoGame vs s&box
MonoGame has 14,428 GitHub stars, 3,107 forks, 766 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. s&box has 6,468 stars, 672 forks, 2,406 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MonoGame leads on adoption by 123% (14,428 vs 6,468 stars). MonoGame is written in C# under a custom or non-standard licence; s&box is written in C# under a custom or non-standard licence. MonoGame has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, s&box 10%. s&box was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| MonoGame | s&box | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 6.5K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | C# | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 672 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick MonoGame if
- You weight community size — 14K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick s&box if
- You want the s&box feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and s&box fits your workflow better
About MonoGame
MonoGame is a free, open source C and .NET game framework for building cross platform games. It lives in the .NET game development ecosystem and is positioned as one framework for creating games on desktop PCs, mobile devices, and consoles. It is an open source re implementation of Microsoft's discontinued XNA Framework, used to create games such as Streets of Rage 4, Carrion, Celeste, and Stardew Valley.
read the full MonoGame overview →
About s&box
s&box is a modern game engine built on Valve's Source 2 and the latest .NET technology, offering a modern intuitive editor for creating games, and it is aimed at game creators who want to build and play games inside an engine that runs live, alongside the contributors who compile the engine itself from source.
read the full s&box overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is MonoGame or s&box more popular?
MonoGame has 14,428 GitHub stars and s&box has 6,468. MonoGame has the larger community by that measure.
Are MonoGame and s&box free?
Neither MonoGame nor s&box declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between MonoGame and s&box?
MonoGame is written in C# and s&box 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, MonoGame or s&box?
Choose MonoGame if you want the larger community (14,428 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose s&box if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.