head to head · open source
raylib vs engine
raylib has 35,571 GitHub stars, 3,376 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. engine has 17,229 stars, 2,051 forks, 471 open issues and last shipped yesterday. raylib leads on adoption by 106% (35,571 vs 17,229 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; engine is written in JavaScript under MIT. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, engine 12%. engine 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.
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Side by side
| raylib | engine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 17K |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Written in | C | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| 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 engine if
- You want the engine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and engine 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 engine
PlayCanvas Engine PlayCanvas is an open source game engine built on WebGL2 and WebGPU. Use it to create interactive 3D apps, games and visualizations that run in any browser on any device. English 中文 日本語 한글 Install Or scaffold a full project in seconds with create playcanvas : Usage Here's a super simple Hello World example a spinning cube! Want to play with the code yourself? Edit it on CodePen. A full guide to setting up a local development environment based on the PlayCanvas Engine can be found here. Features PlayCanvas is a fully featured game engine. 🧊 Graphics Advanced 2D + 3D graphics engine built on…
read the full engine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or engine more popular?
raylib has 35,571 GitHub stars and engine has 17,229. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and engine free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and engine under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and engine?
raylib is written in C and engine in JavaScript. 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 engine?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (35,571 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose engine if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.