Defoldvs
DragonBones
DragonBones: Free 2D skeletal animation solution
Defold
The game engine for the creators of King
As of 30 August 2026, Defold is free to use. Defold is a free, lightweight game engine optimized for mobile and web game development. Softwr lists it under Game Development. Defold is made by King, launched in 2005, available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS.
Overview
What Defold does
Defold is a free, lightweight game engine optimized for mobile and web game development. It is created by King (Candy Crush) and powers many successful mobile games.
What people use it for
- Building 2D games for mobile, desktop, web and console from a single project
- Shipping small-footprint HTML5 games
- Teams wanting a free engine with no revenue share on games
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Defold.
- The Defold License requires you to include the Defold license and copyright notice in any work you create with the engine
- The licence forbids commercialising original or modified versions of the Defold editor or engine itself
- Significant changes made to the Defold source must be documented under the licence terms
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Defold
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- DefoldvsUnity
Unity: Create beautiful interactive content with the world's leading real-time engine
- DefoldvsAseprite
Aseprite: Animated sprite editor and pixel art tool
- DefoldvsGodot Engine
Godot Engine: Free and open-source 2D and 3D game engine
Pricing
What Defold costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Free
Free
- Full editor
- Lua scripting
- Physics engine
- Mobile optimization
- Community support
Capabilities
Features
Lua scripting
Physics engine
Sprite system
Particle effects
Sound management
Collection editor
Mobile optimization
Lightweight
Visual Studio Code
Integration with Visual Studio Code
GitHub
Integration with GitHub
Bob build system
Integration with Bob build system
Code encryption
Code encryption security feature
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
How much does Defold cost?
Defold is completely free with no up-front cost, no licensing cost, no royalties, and no runtime fees. The game engine is free forever, supported by the Defold Foundation with source code available under a developer-friendly license.
SourceIs Defold free to use commercially?
Yes, Defold is free forever with no royalties or revenue sharing required. Developers can create and monetize commercial games without any fees to Defold.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Defold
- Company
- King
- Based in
- Stockholm, Sweden
Keep looking
Where to go from Defold
- Defold alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Defold pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Defold badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Game Development softwareThe full category
- Best Game Development softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Game Development software for
Compare Defold with
- Unity
- DragonBones
- Aseprite
- Godot Engine
- Cocos2d-x
- LÖVE
- Pico-8
- Buildbox
- Cocos Creator
- LDtk
- libGDX
- MonoGame
- Clickteam Fusion
- CryEngine
- Flax Engine
- FMOD
- Cocos2d-x
- Cocos Creator
Other Game Development software
Create beautiful interactive content with the world's leading real-time engine
Free plan15 researched notesFree 2D and 3D engine with no royalties, dominant in Chinese mini-game platforms
Open source10 researched notesBuild worlds, break limits. Professional game development engine.
Free plan16 researched notesFree 2D and 3D engine with no royalties, dominant in Chinese mini-game platforms
Open source10 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Defold, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Defold
Defold alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Defold pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Defold
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Defold badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Game Development software alternatives
Hosted multiplayer networking billed by concurrent users, not by seat or by player
Per month by peak concurrent usersFree 2D and 3D engine with no royalties, dominant in Chinese mini-game platforms
Open source, no licence fee
