head to head · open source
raylib vs corona
raylib has 35,342 GitHub stars, 3,348 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. corona has 2,894 stars, 317 forks, 200 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. raylib leads on adoption by 1,121% (35,342 vs 2,894 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; corona is written in C++ under MIT. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, corona 11%. raylib was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (android, 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
| raylib | corona | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Written in | C | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-20 | 2026-10-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 317 |
| 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 corona if
- You want the corona feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and corona fits your workflow better
About raylib
raylib is a simple and easy to use library to enjoy videogames programming. raylib is highly inspired by Borland BGI graphics lib and by XNA framework and it's especially well suited for prototyping, tooling, graphical applications, embedded systems and education. NOTE for ADVENTURERS: raylib is a programming library to enjoy videogames programming; no fancy interface, no visual helpers, no debug button... just coding in the most pure spartan programmers way. Ready to learn? Jump to code examples! features NO external dependencies , all required libraries are included in raylib Multiple platforms supported…
read the full raylib overview →
About corona
Solar2D Game Engine Download the latest build from the Releases page and join the community on Discord and the forums. Rebranded Corona SDK Simple to learn and use, completely free and open source 2D game engine. Easy to learn & powerful Solar2D is a cross platform framework which is ideal for rapidly creating apps and games for mobile devices, TV, desktop systems and HTML5. That means you can create your project once and publish it to multiple devices, including Apple iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets, Amazon Fire, Mac Desktop, Windows Desktop, Linux, HTML5 and even connected TVs such as Apple TV…
read the full corona overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or corona more popular?
raylib has 35,342 GitHub stars and corona has 2,894. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and corona free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and corona under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and corona?
raylib is written in C and corona 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, raylib or corona?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (35,342 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose corona if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.