head to head · open source
raylib vs dhewm3
raylib has 35,559 GitHub stars, 3,376 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. dhewm3 has 2,193 stars, 430 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. raylib leads on adoption by 1,521% (35,559 vs 2,193 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; dhewm3 is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, dhewm3 20%. raylib was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (game-engine, linux, opengl), 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 | dhewm3 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | Zlib | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 430 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick raylib if
- You weight community size — 36K stars and counting
- You want the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dhewm3 if
- You want the dhewm3 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and dhewm3 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 dhewm3
ABOUT dhewm 3 is a Doom 3 GPL source port, known to work on at least Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD. The goal of dhewm 3 is bring DOOM 3 with the help of SDL to all suitable platforms. Bugs present in the original DOOM 3 will be fixed (when identified) without altering the original gameplay. The official homepage is: Mods supported by dhewm3: Mod SDK for dhewm3: The project is hosted at: Download the latest release: Consult the FAQ at: Report bugs here: CHANGES Compared to the original DOOM 3 , the changes of dhewm 3 worth mentioning are: 64 bit port SDL for low level OS support, OpenGL and input handling…
read the full dhewm3 overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or dhewm3 more popular?
raylib has 35,559 GitHub stars and dhewm3 has 2,193. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and dhewm3 free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and dhewm3 under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and dhewm3?
raylib is written in C and dhewm3 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 dhewm3?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (35,559 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose dhewm3 if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.