head to head · open source
raylib vs wasmi
raylib has 35,538 GitHub stars, 3,370 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. wasmi has 2,341 stars, 379 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped yesterday. raylib leads on adoption by 1,418% (35,538 vs 2,341 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; wasmi is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, wasmi 16%. wasmi 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.
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Side by side
| raylib | wasmi | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Zlib | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 379 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick raylib if
- You weight community size — 36K stars and counting
- You want the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick wasmi if
- You want the wasmi feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and wasmi 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 wasmi
[1]: [2]: [3]: [4]: [5]: [6]: [7]: [8]: [license mit badge]: [license apache badge]: Wasmi WebAssembly (Wasm) Interpreter Wasmi is an efficient and lightweight WebAssembly interpreter with a focus on constrained and embedded systems. Distinct Features Simple, correct and deterministic execution of WebAssembly. Efficient and cross platform WebAssembly runtime for no std embedded environments. Compiler/JIT bomb resisting translation. Loosely mirrors the Wasmtime API to act as drop in replacement. 100% WebAssembly spec testsuite compliance. Built in support for fuel metering. Supports the official Wasm C API…
read the full wasmi overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or wasmi more popular?
raylib has 35,538 GitHub stars and wasmi has 2,341. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and wasmi free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and wasmi under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and wasmi?
raylib is written in C and wasmi in Rust. 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 wasmi?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (35,538 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose wasmi if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.