head to head · open source
MonoGame vs s&box
MonoGame has 14,602 GitHub stars, 3,119 forks, 766 open issues and last shipped yesterday. s&box has 6,517 stars, 696 forks, 2,406 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MonoGame leads on adoption by 124% (14,602 vs 6,517 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 21% as many forks as stars, s&box 11%. 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 | ★ 15K | ★ 6.5K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | C# | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 696 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick MonoGame if
- You weight community size — 15K 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 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 →
About s&box
[Website] [Getting Started] [Forums] [Documentation] [Contributing] [Website]: [Getting Started]: [Forums]: [Documentation]: [Contributing]: CONTRIBUTING.md s&box s&box is a modern game engine, built on Valve's Source 2 and the latest .NET technology, it provides a modern intuitive editor for creating games. If your goal is to create games using s&box, please start with the getting started guide. This repository is for building the engine from source for those who want to contribute to the development of the engine. Getting the Engine Steam You can download and install the s&box editor directly from Steam…
read the full s&box overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is MonoGame or s&box more popular?
MonoGame has 14,602 GitHub stars and s&box has 6,517. 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 (14,602 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.