head to head · open source
raylib vs ebiten
raylib has 35,587 GitHub stars, 3,377 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. ebiten has 13,612 stars, 801 forks, 296 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. raylib leads on adoption by 161% (35,587 vs 13,612 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; ebiten is written in Go under Apache-2.0. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, ebiten 6%. 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-development, game-engine, 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| raylib | ebiten | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 14K |
| License | Zlib | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-07 | 2026-11-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 801 |
| 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 ebiten if
- You want the ebiten feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and ebiten 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 ebiten
Ebitengine (v2) A dead simple 2D game engine for Go Ebitengine (formerly known as Ebiten) is an open source game engine for the Go programming language. Ebitengine's simple API allows you to quickly and easily develop 2D games that can be deployed across multiple platforms. Website (ebitengine.org) API Reference Cheat Sheet Awesome Ebitengine Platforms Windows macOS Linux FreeBSD Android (Cgo required) iOS (Cgo required) WebAssembly Nintendo Switch (Cgo required) Xbox (Cgo required) (Xbox support is limited and not available to everyone. Negotiations are currently underway to make it accessible to all.) For…
read the full ebiten overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Gaming projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Gaming field.
Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or ebiten more popular?
raylib has 35,587 GitHub stars and ebiten has 13,612. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and ebiten free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and ebiten under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and ebiten?
raylib is written in C and ebiten in Go. 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 ebiten?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (35,587 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose ebiten if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.