head to head · open source
raylib vs WickedEngine
raylib has 34,937 GitHub stars, 3,317 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. WickedEngine has 7,259 stars, 779 forks, 118 open issues and last shipped yesterday. raylib leads on adoption by 381% (34,937 vs 7,259 stars). raylib is written in C under Zlib; WickedEngine is written in C++ under MIT. raylib has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, WickedEngine 11%. 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.
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Side by side
| raylib | WickedEngine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 7.3K |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Written in | C | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 779 |
| 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 WickedEngine if
- You want the WickedEngine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and WickedEngine 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 WickedEngine
Wicked Engine is an open source 3D engine with modern graphics, written in C++, for developers who want a C++ graphics framework, a standalone 3D editor, Lua scripting, or a codebase to learn from.
read the full WickedEngine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is raylib or WickedEngine more popular?
raylib has 34,937 GitHub stars and WickedEngine has 7,259. raylib has the larger community by that measure.
Are raylib and WickedEngine free?
Both are open source. raylib is licensed under Zlib and WickedEngine under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between raylib and WickedEngine?
raylib is written in C and WickedEngine 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 WickedEngine?
Choose raylib if you want the larger community (34,937 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose WickedEngine if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.