PixiJS
Game Engines & FrameworksFast 2D WebGL rendering engine for browser games
Replaces Adobe Animate runtime
Best Lightweight Game Engines & Frameworks for self-hosting
The 9 best Lightweight game engines & frameworks you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
PlayCanvas Engine
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source WebGL game engine for 3D browser games
Replaces Unity WebGL
Minetest Server Note Mineclone2 alt
Game Engines & FrameworksDedicated server software for hosting Minetest game worlds
Replaces Minecraft server
DevilutionX
Game Engines & FrameworksModernized Diablo engine with cross-platform multiplayer
Replaces Diablo original
melonJS
Game Engines & FrameworksLightweight HTML5 game engine for browser games
Replaces GameMaker, Construct
Excalibur
Game Engines & FrameworksTypeScript-first 2D game engine for the web
Replaces GameMaker, Construct
KAPLAY
Game Engines & FrameworksFun JavaScript library for making browser games fast
Replaces Phaser
Crafty Controller Note - mcrcon alt RconCli
Game Engines & FrameworksLightweight RCON client for remote game server administration
Replaces In-game server console
Aleph One
Game Engines & FrameworksOpen-source engine for the Marathon trilogy with multiplayer
Replaces Marathon original
No apps match these filters.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Lightweight within the game engines & frameworks category. Compare them on the individual app pages for setup difficulty and resource requirements.