head to head · open source
three.js vs ebiten
three.js has 115,865 GitHub stars, 36,571 forks, 386 open issues and last shipped today. ebiten has 13,509 stars, 791 forks, 296 open issues and last shipped today. three.js leads on adoption by 758% (115,865 vs 13,509 stars). three.js is written in JavaScript under MIT; ebiten is written in Go under Apache-2.0. three.js has attracted 32% as many forks as stars, ebiten 6%. ebiten was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | ebiten | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 116K | ★ 14K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-25 | 2026-09-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 37K | ⑂ 791 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick three.js if
- You weight community size — 116K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ebiten if
- You want the ebiten feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and ebiten fits your workflow better
About three.js
three.js is an MIT licensed JavaScript 3D library that provides an easy to use, lightweight, cross browser, general purpose layer for rendering interactive 3D graphics in the browser, aimed at JavaScript developers who need 3D scenes on the web without writing raw GPU code.
read the full three.js overview →
About ebiten
Ebitengine (v2) is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed 2D game engine for the Go programming language, built for developers who want a simple API for writing 2D games that deploy across desktop, mobile, web and console platforms.
read the full ebiten overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is three.js or ebiten more popular?
three.js has 115,865 GitHub stars and ebiten has 13,509. three.js has the larger community by that measure.
Are three.js and ebiten free?
Both are open source. three.js is licensed under MIT and ebiten under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between three.js and ebiten?
three.js is written in JavaScript and ebiten in Go. 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 ebiten?
Choose three.js if you want the larger community (115,865 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ebiten if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.