head to head · open source
three.js vs engine
three.js has 115,782 GitHub stars, 36,558 forks, 386 open issues and last shipped yesterday. engine has 16,890 stars, 2,000 forks, 471 open issues and last shipped today. three.js leads on adoption by 586% (115,782 vs 16,890 stars). three.js is written in JavaScript under MIT; engine is written in JavaScript under MIT. three.js has attracted 32% as many forks as stars, engine 12%. engine was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), 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 | engine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 116K | ★ 17K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-22 | 2026-09-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 37K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| 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 engine if
- You want the engine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and engine 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 engine
PlayCanvas Engine is an open source, MIT licensed JavaScript and TypeScript runtime for building interactive 3D apps, games and visualizations that run in any browser on any device, built on WebGL2 and WebGPU.
read the full engine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is three.js or engine more popular?
three.js has 115,782 GitHub stars and engine has 16,890. three.js has the larger community by that measure.
Are three.js and engine free?
Both are open source. three.js is licensed under MIT and engine under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between three.js and engine?
three.js is written in JavaScript and engine in JavaScript. 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 engine?
Choose three.js if you want the larger community (115,782 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose engine if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.