head to head · open source
raylib vs FXGL
raylib has 34,972 GitHub stars, 3,323 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. FXGL has 4,864 stars, 711 forks, 150 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. raylib leads on adoption by 619% (34,972 vs 4,864 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; FXGL is written in Kotlin under MIT. raylib has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, FXGL 15%. raylib was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (android, 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 | FXGL | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 4.9K |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Written in | C | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-10-04 | 2026-10-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 711 |
| 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 FXGL if
- You want the FXGL feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and FXGL 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 FXGL
FXGL is a free, MIT licensed Java game library built on JavaFX that lets Java and Kotlin developers write 2D games — and some 3D and business UIs — without installing anything beyond their JVM toolchain.
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Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or FXGL more popular?
raylib has 34,972 GitHub stars and FXGL has 4,864. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and FXGL free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and FXGL under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and FXGL?
raylib is written in C and FXGL in Kotlin. 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 FXGL?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (34,972 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose FXGL if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.