Excalibur vs Solarus
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
Solarus
Open-source 2D action-RPG game engine
| Feature | Excalibur | Solarus |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Game Engines & Frameworks | Game Engines & Frameworks |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,323 | ★ 730 |
| First released | 2014 | 2011 |
| Replaces | GameMaker, Construct | RPG Maker |
Why pick each one
Choose Solarus if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Excalibur or Solarus better?
Neither is universally better. Excalibur has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Excalibur and Solarus free and open-source?
Yes. Excalibur is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Solarus under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Excalibur and Solarus with Docker?
Excalibur: check the project docs for container support. Solarus: check the project docs for container support.