head to head · open source
OpenRA vs MonoGame
OpenRA has 17,408 GitHub stars, 3,048 forks, 1,598 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. MonoGame has 14,438 stars, 3,105 forks, 766 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenRA leads on adoption by 21% (17,408 vs 14,438 stars). OpenRA is written in C# under GPL-3.0; MonoGame is written in C# under a custom or non-standard licence. OpenRA has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, MonoGame 22%. MonoGame was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (cross-platform, csharp, dotnet, game-engine), 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
| OpenRA | MonoGame | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 14K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | C# | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenRA if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- 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 OpenRA
OpenRA is a libre, free and open source real time strategy game engine written in C with SDL and OpenGL, built for players, mappers and modders who want to run and extend early Westwood classics such as Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and Dune 2000 on Windows, Linux, BSD and Mac OS X.
read the full OpenRA overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenRA or MonoGame more popular?
OpenRA has 17,408 GitHub stars and MonoGame has 14,438. OpenRA has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenRA and MonoGame free?
Both are open source. OpenRA is licensed under GPL-3.0, and MonoGame has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenRA and MonoGame?
OpenRA is written in C# 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, OpenRA or MonoGame?
Choose OpenRA if you want the larger community (17,408 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose MonoGame if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.