head to head · open source
raylib vs ursina
raylib has 35,392 GitHub stars, 3,354 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. ursina has 2,601 stars, 359 forks, 47 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. raylib leads on adoption by 1,261% (35,392 vs 2,601 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; ursina is written in Python under MIT. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, ursina 14%. raylib was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (game-development, 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 | ursina | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Written in | C | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 359 |
| 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 ursina if
- You want the ursina feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and ursina 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 ursina
ursina ʕ •ᴥ•ʔゝ□ Website Discord Twitter Patreon Sponsor An easy to use game engine/framework for python. Getting Started 1) Install Python 3.10 or newer. 2) Open cmd/terminal and type: To get the newest, in development version from GitHub, install it like this: If you want to easily edit the source, it's recommended to clone the git repo and pip install with editable flag like this. Make sure you have git installed. Also install any of the optional dependencies you want from the list below, or install them all with: On some systems you might have to use pip3 instead of pip in order to use Python 3 and not the…
read the full ursina 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 ursina more popular?
raylib has 35,392 GitHub stars and ursina has 2,601. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and ursina free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and ursina under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and ursina?
raylib is written in C and ursina in Python. 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 ursina?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (35,392 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose ursina if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.