Stencylvs
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Stencyl
Create games with visual programming
As of 30 August 2026, Stencyl has a free plan and paid plans start at $99/year. Stencyl is a free game development engine that uses visual programming. Softwr lists it under Game Development. Stencyl is made by Stencyl Inc, launched in 2011, available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS.
Overview
What Stencyl does
Stencyl is a free game development engine that uses visual programming. It supports both desktop and mobile game creation without coding.
What people use it for
- Game development for independent creators
- Cross-platform game publishing (iOS, Android, Web, Desktop)
- Indie game studio platform
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 Stencyl.
- The free Starter tier can publish to the web only
- Desktop publishing requires the Indie plan at $99 a year
- iOS and Android publishing require the Studio plan at $199 a year
- Licences are annual, so continuing to publish means continuing to pay
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Stencyl
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.
- StencylvsUnity
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- StencylvsGodot Engine
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Pricing
What Stencyl costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Starter (Free)
Free
- Publish to Web only
- Includes Stencyl branding splash screen
Indie
$99 /yr
- Publish to Web and Desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- Early access to latest releases
- No watermarks or forced Stencyl branding
- Access to customer-only forums
- Steam and publisher distribution support
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Studio (Most Popular)
$199 /yr
- Publish to iOS, Android, Web and Desktop
- Early access to latest releases
- No watermarks or forced Stencyl branding
- Access to customer-only forums
- Steam and publisher distribution support
- Ad support (iAd, AdMob)
Capabilities
Features
Visual block programming
Drag-and-drop interface
Physics engine
Sprite animation
Sound and music
Tilemap editor
Actor system
Haxe support
GitHub
Integration with GitHub
Dropbox
Integration with Dropbox
Visual Studio Code
Integration with Visual Studio Code
Open-source blocks
Open-source blocks 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 Stencyl cost?
Stencyl offers a free Starter plan, Indie at $99/year, and Studio at $199/year. All platforms include annual subscriptions with no royalties or per-game fees.
SourceWhat platforms can I publish to with each Stencyl plan?
Starter publishes to Web only. Indie adds Desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux). Studio includes all Indie platforms plus iOS and Android mobile.
SourceDoes Stencyl offer a money-back guarantee?
Yes, both Indie and Studio plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee from the date of purchase, provided you have not published any games.
SourceCan I use Stencyl after my subscription expires?
Yes, your games will continue to work after your subscription expires. However, you cannot publish new games or updates without an active subscription.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Stencyl
- Company
- Stencyl Inc
- Based in
- San Francisco, CA
Keep looking
Where to go from Stencyl
- Stencyl alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Stencyl pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Stencyl 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 Stencyl with
- Godot Engine
- DragonBones
- Aseprite
- Unity
- GameMaker Studio 2
- Ren'Py
- Clickteam Fusion
- Quixel Mixer
- RPG Maker MZ
- Mixamo
- Pico-8
- Adventure Game Studio
- Lumberyard
- MonoGame
- O3DE
- OGRE
- Panda3D
- Perforce Helix Core
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Stencyl, 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 Stencyl
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What people switch to, and what they give up
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Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
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