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Side-by-side comparison

Pick up to four tools and compare adoption, momentum and maintenance at a glance. The crown marks the leader in each row.

Classic Python library for 2D games built on SDL, widely used for learning game programming.

Low-level cross-platform layer for windowing, input, audio and graphics; SDL3 adds a modern GPU API.

Simple, dependency-free C library for games, with bindings for 60+ languages.

C# framework and XNA successor behind hits like Stardew Valley and Celeste.

Head to head

Metric	Pygame	SDL	raylib	MonoGame
Stars	9k	16.9k	35.6k	14.6k
Weekly downloads	637k	n/a	n/a	n/a
Download growth	+28%	n/a	n/a	n/a
Popularity score	72/100	77/100	83/100	76/100
Forks	4.3k	3.1k	3.4k	3.1k
Open issues	805	893	9	773
Last commit	1y ago	5d ago	today	6d ago
Latest version	2.6.1Sep 29, 2024	n/a	n/a	n/a
License	n/a	Zlib	Zlib	n/a
First released	2017	2021	2013	2011
Signals	Popular	Popular	Popular	None
Listed in	Game Development › 2D & Lightweight Frameworks	Game Development › 2D & Lightweight Frameworks	Game Development › 2D & Lightweight Frameworks	Game Development › 2D & Lightweight Frameworks

Hover for exact values; switch to log scale for tools of very different sizes. Not shown (no comparable download data): SDL, raylib, MonoGame.

Classic Python library for 2D games built on SDL, widely used for learning game programming.

Low-level cross-platform layer for windowing, input, audio and graphics; SDL3 adds a modern GPU API.

Simple, dependency-free C library for games, with bindings for 60+ languages.

C# framework and XNA successor behind hits like Stardew Valley and Celeste.

Metric	Pygame	SDL	raylib	MonoGame
Stars	9k	16.9k	35.6k	14.6k
Weekly downloads	637k	n/a	n/a	n/a
Download growth	+28%	n/a	n/a	n/a
Popularity score	72/100	77/100	83/100	76/100
Forks	4.3k	3.1k	3.4k	3.1k
Open issues	805	893	9	773
Last commit	1y ago	5d ago	today	6d ago
Latest version	2.6.1Sep 29, 2024	n/a	n/a	n/a
License	n/a	Zlib	Zlib	n/a
First released	2017	2021	2013	2011
Signals	Popular	Popular	Popular	None
Listed in	Game Development › 2D & Lightweight Frameworks	Game Development › 2D & Lightweight Frameworks	Game Development › 2D & Lightweight Frameworks	Game Development › 2D & Lightweight Frameworks

Hover for exact values; switch to log scale for tools of very different sizes. Not shown (no comparable download data): SDL, raylib, MonoGame.