head to head · open source
raylib vs horizon
raylib has 35,433 GitHub stars, 3,358 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. horizon has 2,537 stars, 173 forks, 438 open issues and last shipped yesterday. raylib leads on adoption by 1,297% (35,433 vs 2,537 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; horizon is written in Rust under MIT. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, horizon 7%. horizon 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, gamedev, linux), 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 | horizon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Written in | C | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-25 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 173 |
| 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 horizon if
- You want the horizon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and horizon 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 horizon
Website · Download · Documentation · Release notes · Roadmap · Project status · Contributing Horizon Horizon is Minecraft: Java Edition 26.3 rewritten in Rust: a native game that reads the same worlds, follows the same rules and generates the same terrain as the Java game, and is checked against it by 281 differential harnesses. You play it through a small launcher, on the files from your own copy of Minecraft. It is free, open source and unofficial. Not an official Minecraft product. Not approved by or associated with Mojang or Microsoft. Horizon contains no Minecraft code, assets or data: you need your own…
read the full horizon 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 horizon more popular?
raylib has 35,433 GitHub stars and horizon has 2,537. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and horizon free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and horizon under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and horizon?
raylib is written in C and horizon in Rust. 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 horizon?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (35,433 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose horizon if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.