head to head · open source
raylib vs melonJS
raylib has 34,941 GitHub stars, 3,318 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. melonJS has 6,399 stars, 662 forks, 20 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. raylib leads on adoption by 446% (34,941 vs 6,399 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; melonJS is written in JavaScript under MIT. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, melonJS 10%. 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.
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Side by side
| raylib | melonJS | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 6.4K |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Written in | C | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 662 |
| 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 melonJS if
- You want the melonJS feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and melonJS 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 melonJS
melonJS is a modern, lightweight HTML5 2.5D game engine for indie developers and web game programmers who want a full game stack in a single dependency free ES module.
read the full melonJS overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or melonJS more popular?
raylib has 34,941 GitHub stars and melonJS has 6,399. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and melonJS free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and melonJS under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and melonJS?
raylib is written in C and melonJS 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 melonJS?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (34,941 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose melonJS if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.