head to head · open source
three.js vs Babylon.js
three.js has 117,439 GitHub stars, 36,894 forks, 386 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Babylon.js has 26,283 stars, 3,719 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. three.js leads on adoption by 347% (117,439 vs 26,283 stars). three.js is written in JavaScript under MIT; Babylon.js is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. three.js has attracted 31% as many forks as stars, Babylon.js 14%. Babylon.js was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 6 topic tags (3d, webaudio, webgl, webgl2), 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
| three.js | Babylon.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 117K | ★ 26K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 37K | ⑂ 3.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick three.js if
- You weight community size — 117K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Babylon.js if
- You want the Babylon.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Babylon.js fits your workflow better
About three.js
three.js [![NPM Package][npm]][npm url] [![Build Size][build size]][build size url] [![NPM Downloads][npm downloads]][npmtrends url] [![jsDelivr Downloads][jsdelivr downloads]][jsdelivr url] [![Discord][discord]][discord url] JavaScript 3D library The aim of the project is to create an easy to use, lightweight, cross browser, general purpose 3D library. The current builds only include WebGL and WebGPU renderers but SVG and CSS3D renderers are also available as addons. Examples — Docs — Manual — Wiki — Migrating — Questions — Forum — Discord Usage This code creates a…
read the full three.js overview →
About Babylon.js
Babylon.js Getting started? Play directly with the Babylon.js API using our playground. It also contains a lot of samples to learn how to use it. Any questions? Here is our official forum. CDN ⚠️ WARNING: The CDN should not be used in production environments. The purpose of our CDN is to serve Babylon packages to users learning how to use the platform or running small experiments. Once you've built an application and are ready to share it with the world at large, you should serve all packages from your own CDN. For the preview release, use the following URLs: A list of additional references can be found here…
read the full Babylon.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is three.js or Babylon.js more popular?
three.js has 117,439 GitHub stars and Babylon.js has 26,283. three.js has the larger community by that measure.
Are three.js and Babylon.js free?
Both are open source. three.js is licensed under MIT and Babylon.js under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between three.js and Babylon.js?
three.js is written in JavaScript and Babylon.js in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, three.js or Babylon.js?
Choose three.js if you want the larger community (117,439 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Babylon.js if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.