Game Development · pricing
CryEngine pricing
CryEngine publishes a single tier. Below is what it costs, what it covers, and how that compares with the game development tools listed alongside it.
As of 30 August 2026, CryEngine pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Free
- Tiers
- 1
- Free tier
- Yes
CryEngine plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free CRYENGINE | Free | 6 | Entry tier |
Where CryEngine stops being free
Free CRYENGINE, Free
- Free download and use in development
- 5% royalty on revenue after shipping
- First $5,000 annual revenue per project royalty-free
- Full source code access
- All engine features included
- Access to all supported platforms
No paid tier on record
CryEngine lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.
What the product covers
The full CryEngine feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Advanced graphics
- Physics engine
- AI system
- Animation tools
- Flow Graph visual scripting
- C++ and Lua support
- Entity component system
- Sandbox editor
Integrations
- Visual Studio
- Perforce
- Wwise
- Nvidia PhysX
- Simplygon
Security
- Source code access
- DRM options
Deployment
- Local deployment
- Console deployment
Platform
- Windows support
- Playstation support
- Xbox support
- Linux support
Localization
- C++ language support
- Lua language support
People bring CryEngine in for game engine for indie and professional game development, real-time 3d rendering and visualization, vr and immersive experience creation, environmental and industrial simulation. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to CryEngine are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Game Development
Too few game development tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CryEngine (this page) | Free | free | - | |
| Perforce Helix Core | Free | quote | - | vs CryEngine |
| Photon Engine | Free, then $9/month | Per month by peak concurrent users | - | vs CryEngine |
| Cocos Creator | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs CryEngine |
| GDevelop | Free | free | - | vs CryEngine |
| GameMaker Studio 2 | Free | freemium | - | vs CryEngine |
| Cocos2d-x | Free | free | - | vs CryEngine |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the CryEngine badges page.
Before you pay for CryEngine
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: a single tier at Free. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
CryEngine runs on windows, playstation, xbox, linux, and is published by Crytek of Frankfurt, Germany. The full record is on the CryEngine review, and the rest of the category is under best game development tools.
CryEngine pricing questions
- How much does CryEngine cost?
- CryEngine publishes a single tier, Free CRYENGINE, at Free.
- Does CryEngine have a free plan?
- Yes. The Free CRYENGINE tier costs nothing and covers free download and use in development, 5% royalty on revenue after shipping, first $5,000 annual revenue per project royalty-free.
- Which game development tools can I use without paying?
- 8 of the 8 game development tools listed alongside CryEngine have a free tier: Perforce Helix Core, Photon Engine, Cocos Creator, GDevelop, GameMaker Studio 2.
- What am I actually paying for with CryEngine?
- The record lists 23 features across 6 areas: other, integrations, security, deployment, platform, localization. In practice it is brought in for game engine for indie and professional game development, real-time 3d rendering and visualization, vr and immersive experience creation.
- Does CryEngine charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these CryEngine prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare CryEngine against before paying?
- The closest game development tools in this directory are Perforce Helix Core, Photon Engine, Cocos Creator, GDevelop. Each has a side-by-side comparison with CryEngine covering price, platforms and features.