SHSelfHostIndex

KAPLAY vs melonJS

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?
KA KAPLAY Fun JavaScript library for making browser games fast VS ME melonJS Lightweight HTML5 game engine for browser games
FeatureKAPLAYmelonJS
CategoryGame Engines & FrameworksGame Engines & Frameworks
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageTypeScriptJavaScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentsourcebare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 1,766★ 6,351
First released20212011
ReplacesPhaserGameMaker, Construct

Why pick each one

Choose KAPLAY if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
  • Written in TypeScript
KAPLAY details

Choose melonJS if…

  • Small and fast
  • Good tooling integration
melonJS details

Frequently asked questions

Is KAPLAY or melonJS better?

Neither is universally better. melonJS has the larger community, while KAPLAY is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are KAPLAY and melonJS free and open-source?

Yes. KAPLAY is licensed under MIT and melonJS under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run KAPLAY and melonJS with Docker?

KAPLAY: check the project docs for container support. melonJS: check the project docs for container support.

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