head to head · open source
raylib vs Pumpkin
raylib has 34,793 GitHub stars, 3,301 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pumpkin has 11,292 stars, 813 forks, 452 open issues and last shipped yesterday. raylib leads on adoption by 208% (34,793 vs 11,292 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; Pumpkin is written in Rust under GPL-3.0. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Pumpkin 7%. Pumpkin 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
| raylib | Pumpkin | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 11K |
| License | Zlib | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 813 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick raylib if
- You weight community size — 35K stars and counting
- You want the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Pumpkin if
- You want the Pumpkin feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Pumpkin fits your workflow better
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 →
About Pumpkin
Pumpkin is a Minecraft server implementation written entirely in Rust that aims to let anyone host fast and efficient Java and Bedrock Edition servers, and it is built for server operators and plugin developers who want vanilla compatible gameplay without the official Java server.
read the full Pumpkin overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or Pumpkin more popular?
raylib has 34,793 GitHub stars and Pumpkin has 11,292. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and Pumpkin free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and Pumpkin under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and Pumpkin?
raylib is written in C and Pumpkin in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, raylib or Pumpkin?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (34,793 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose Pumpkin if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.