head to head · open source
raylib vs LittleJS
raylib has 35,021 GitHub stars, 3,325 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LittleJS has 4,197 stars, 233 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped today. raylib leads on adoption by 734% (35,021 vs 4,197 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; LittleJS is written in JavaScript under MIT. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, LittleJS 6%. LittleJS 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 | LittleJS | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Written in | C | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 233 |
| 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 LittleJS if
- You want the LittleJS feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and LittleJS 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 LittleJS
LittleJS is a tiny, dependency free 2D and 3D HTML5 game engine written in JavaScript and TypeScript, aimed at web game developers who want a small footprint without giving up rendering, physics, audio, and tooling.
read the full LittleJS overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or LittleJS more popular?
raylib has 35,021 GitHub stars and LittleJS has 4,197. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and LittleJS free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and LittleJS under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and LittleJS?
raylib is written in C and LittleJS 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 LittleJS?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (35,021 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose LittleJS if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.