Excalibur vs Phaser
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted game engines & frameworks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Excalibur
TypeScript-first 2D game engine for the web
VS
Phaser
Fast HTML5 game framework for browser games you host yourself
| Feature | Excalibur | Phaser |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Game Engines & Frameworks | Game Engines & Frameworks |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,323 | ★ 40,098 |
| First released | 2014 | 2013 |
| Replaces | GameMaker, Construct | Construct, GameMaker |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Excalibur or Phaser better?
Neither is universally better. Phaser has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Excalibur and Phaser free and open-source?
Yes. Excalibur is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Phaser under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Excalibur and Phaser with Docker?
Excalibur: check the project docs for container support. Phaser: check the project docs for container support.