PixiJS
Game Engines & FrameworksFast 2D WebGL rendering engine for browser games
Replaces Adobe Animate runtime
Best Free Game Engines & Frameworks for self-hosting
The 25 best Free game engines & frameworks you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
Phaser
Game Engines & FrameworksFast HTML5 game framework for browser games you host yourself
Replaces Construct, GameMaker
OpenRA
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source remake of classic RTS games
Replaces Command & Conquer, Red Alert
PlayCanvas Engine
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source WebGL game engine for 3D browser games
Replaces Unity WebGL
openage
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source engine reimplementation of Age of Empires II
Replaces Age of Empires II original engine
Retroarch Web Player
Game Engines & FrameworksEmulate videogames system and play videogames through your web browser
RomM
Game Engines & FrameworksSelf-hosted ROM manager and retro game library
Replaces Playnite, LaunchBox
TrinityCore
Game Engines & FrameworksMMORPG server emulator for World of Warcraft
Replaces official WoW servers
Cocos Engine
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source cross-platform 2D and 3D game engine
Replaces Unity
DevilutionX
Game Engines & FrameworksModernized Diablo engine with cross-platform multiplayer
Replaces Diablo original
OpenMW
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source engine reimplementation for Morrowind
Replaces Morrowind original engine
melonJS
Game Engines & FrameworksLightweight HTML5 game engine for browser games
Replaces GameMaker, Construct
86Box
Game Engines & FrameworksEmulator of classic x86 PCs for retro gaming and software
Replaces PCem
EmulatorJS
Game Engines & FrameworksSelf-hosted in-browser retro game emulator
Replaces RetroArch web
Spring RTS Engine Note - Beyond All Reason server
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source engine for hosting real-time strategy game servers
Replaces Total Annihilation
Excalibur
Game Engines & FrameworksTypeScript-first 2D game engine for the web
Replaces GameMaker, Construct
Retrom
Game Engines & FrameworksSelf-hosted game library server with launcher clients
Replaces Playnite, Steam library
KAPLAY
Game Engines & FrameworksFun JavaScript library for making browser games fast
Replaces Phaser
mcrcon
Game Engines & FrameworksCommand-line RCON client for Minecraft servers
Replaces In-game server console
Gaseous Server
Game Engines & FrameworksSelf-hosted ROM library and metadata server
Replaces LaunchBox
Sapphire Server
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source server emulator for Final Fantasy XIV
Replaces official FFXIV servers
Aleph One
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source engine for the Marathon trilogy with multiplayer
Replaces Marathon original
CMaNGOS
Game Engines & FrameworksContinued MaNGOS World of Warcraft server emulator
Replaces official WoW servers
Ryzom Core
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source MMORPG engine and game framework
Replaces World of Warcraft
ct.js
Game Engines & FrameworksFree 2D game editor with a visual interface and code
Replaces GameMaker Studio
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PixiJS | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 128 MB | MIT | 48,368 |
| Phaser | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 128 MB | MIT | 40,470 |
| OpenRA | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | GPL-3.0 | 17,559 |
| PlayCanvas Engine | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 256 MB | MIT | 17,029 |
| openage | Read-the-docs project | Hard | 1,024 MB | GPL-3.0 | 14,502 |
| Retroarch Web Player | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 50 MB | GPL-3.0-or-later | 14,325 |
| RomM | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | GPL-3.0 | 13,618 |
| TrinityCore | Read-the-docs project | Hard | 4,096 MB | GPL-2.0 | 10,821 |
| Cocos Engine | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 512 MB | MIT | 9,855 |
| DevilutionX | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 256 MB | Unlicense | 9,836 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: PixiJS (48,368 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: mcrcon (from 16 MB RAM, against 4,096 MB for the heaviest here).
- Licensing: 9 of 25 use GPL-3.0; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Free within the game engines & frameworks category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.