LÖVEvs
DragonBones
DragonBones: Free 2D skeletal animation solution
LÖVE
Framework for making 2D games in Lua
As of 30 August 2026, LÖVE is free to use. LÖVE is a free, open-source framework for creating 2D games using Lua. Softwr lists it under Game Development. LÖVE is made by LÖVE Community, launched in 2008, available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS.
Overview
What LÖVE does
LÖVE is a free, open-source framework for creating 2D games using Lua. It is lightweight and suitable for indie game development.
What people use it for
- Making 2D games in Lua
- Rapid prototyping of 2D gameplay
- Shipping small 2D games to desktop and mobile from one Lua codebase
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 LÖVE.
- LOVE is a 2D-only framework, with no 3D pipeline
- Games must be written in Lua, with no other supported scripting language
- Supported platforms are limited to Windows Vista and later, macOS 10.11 and later, Linux, Android and iOS
- The iOS build is distributed as source and libraries rather than a ready installer
- There is no commercial support offering; help is through community forums, Discord and a subreddit
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of LÖVE
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.
- LÖVEvsUnity
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- LÖVEvsAseprite
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- LÖVEvsGodot Engine
Godot Engine: Free and open-source 2D and 3D game engine
Pricing
What LÖVE costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Free
Free
- Full framework
- Lua scripting
- Cross-platform support
- Community support
- Open-source
- No royalties
Capabilities
Features
Lua scripting
Graphics rendering
Physics engine (Box2D)
Audio support
Input handling
File I/O
Vector math
Animation support
Lua
Integration with Lua
Git
Integration with Git
GitHub
Integration with GitHub
Open-source
Open-source security feature
Behind it
Who makes LÖVE
- Company
- LÖVE Community
- Based in
- Community-driven
Keep looking
Where to go from LÖVE
- LÖVE alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- LÖVE pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- LÖVE 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 LÖVE with
- Aseprite
- DragonBones
- Godot Engine
- MonoGame
- Pico-8
- Defold
- libGDX
- Adventure Game Studio
- Armory3D
- Clickteam Fusion
- Cocos2d-x
- CryEngine
- PlayFab
- Pygame
- Quixel Mixer
- Raylib
- Ren'Py
- RPG Maker MV
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for LÖVE, 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 LÖVE
LÖVE alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
LÖVE pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare LÖVE
Put it head to head with anything we hold
LÖVE badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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