head to head · open source
raylib vs NettyGameServer
raylib has 34,912 GitHub stars, 3,315 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. NettyGameServer has 1,673 stars, 672 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. raylib leads on adoption by 1,987% (34,912 vs 1,673 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; NettyGameServer is written in Java under GPL-3.0. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, NettyGameServer 40%. raylib was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (game-engine), 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 | NettyGameServer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Zlib | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-28 | 2026-04-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 672 |
| 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 NettyGameServer if
- You want the NettyGameServer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and NettyGameServer 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 NettyGameServer
NettyGameServer is a Java, GPL 3.0 licensed distributed mobile game server built on Netty 4.X that gives backend teams TCP, UDP, HTTP and WebSocket entry points, protobuf based protocol handling and sharded, Redis cached MySQL persistence in one starting point.
read the full NettyGameServer 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 NettyGameServer more popular?
raylib has 34,912 GitHub stars and NettyGameServer has 1,673. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and NettyGameServer free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and NettyGameServer under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and NettyGameServer?
raylib is written in C and NettyGameServer in Java. 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 NettyGameServer?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (34,912 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose NettyGameServer if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.