head to head · open source
raylib vs redot-engine
raylib has 34,972 GitHub stars, 3,323 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. redot-engine has 6,123 stars, 335 forks, 91 open issues and last shipped yesterday. raylib leads on adoption by 471% (34,972 vs 6,123 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; redot-engine is written in C++ under MIT. raylib has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, redot-engine 5%. 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 | redot-engine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Written in | C | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-04 | 2026-10-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 335 |
| 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 redot-engine if
- You want the redot-engine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and redot-engine 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 redot-engine
Redot Engine is a free, open source, MIT licensed C++ game engine for developers who create 2D and 3D games and export them to desktop, mobile, web, and console platforms.
read the full redot-engine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or redot-engine more popular?
raylib has 34,972 GitHub stars and redot-engine has 6,123. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and redot-engine free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and redot-engine under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and redot-engine?
raylib is written in C and redot-engine in C++. 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 redot-engine?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (34,972 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose redot-engine if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.