DirectX Alternatives

DirectX is described as 'Set of components in Windows that allows software, primarily and especially games, to work directly with your video and audio hardware' and is a graphics library in the development category. There are more than 10 alternatives to DirectX for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android apps. The best DirectX alternative is OpenGL, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like DirectX are Vulkan, WebGL, Metal and SDL.

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Alternatives list

  1. OpenGL icon

    OpenGL

     189 likes
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    OpenGL is the premier environment for developing portable, interactive 2D and 3D graphics applications. Since its introduction in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry's most widely used and supported 2D and 3D graphics application programming interface (API), bringing...

    10 OpenGL alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • BSD
    • Haiku
    Project64 (Nintendo 64 emulator) with the Glide64 video plugin (which uses OpenGL) playing Super Mario 64.
     
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    19

    • Almost everyone thinks OpenGL is a great DirectX alternative.

    • OpenGL is the most popular Windows, Android, Mac & iPhone alternative to DirectX.

    • OpenGL is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to DirectX.

    • OpenGL is Free and Open SourceDirectX is Free and Proprietary
  2. Vulkan icon

    Vulkan

     95 likes
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    Vulkan is a new generation graphics and compute API that provides high-efficiency, cross-platform access to modern GPUs used in a wide variety of devices from PCs and consoles to mobile phones and embedded platforms.

    10 Vulkan alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • Chrome OS
    • Tizen OS
    • SteamOS
    • HarmonyOS
    • Nintendo Switch
    Baldur's Gate 3
     
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    14
  4. WebGL icon

    WebGL

     26 likes
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    WebGL is a cross-platform, royalty-free web standard for a low-level 3D graphics API based on OpenGL ES 2.0, exposed through the HTML5 Canvas element as Document Object Model interfaces. Developers familiar with OpenGL ES 2.

    14 WebGL alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     

    • WebGL is the most popular Web-based alternative to DirectX.

    • WebGL is Free and Open SourceDirectX is Free and Proprietary
  5. Metal icon

    Metal

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    Metal provides near-direct access to the graphics processing unit (GPU), enabling you to maximize the graphics and compute potential of your apps on iOS, macOS, and tvOS. Building on an approachable, low-overhead architecture with precompiled GPU shaders, fine-grained resource...

    Cost / License

    • Pay once
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Metal screenshot 1
     

    • Metal is the most popular commercial alternative to DirectX.

    • Metal is Paid and ProprietaryDirectX is Free and Proprietary
  6. SDL icon

    SDL

     35 likes
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    Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform multimedia library designed to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, 3D hardware via OpenGL, and 2D video framebuffer. It is used by MPEG playback software, emulators, and many popular games, including the...

    33 SDL alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Windows Mobile
    • iPhone
    • Symbian S60
    • BSD
    • iPad
    • Haiku
     

    • SDL is the most popular iPad alternative to DirectX.

    • SDL is Free and Open SourceDirectX is Free and Proprietary
  7. ANGLE icon

    ANGLE

     1 like
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    The goal of ANGLE is to allow users of multiple operating systems to seamlessly run WebGL and other OpenGL ES content by translating OpenGL ES API calls to one of the hardware-supported APIs available for that platform. ANGLE currently provides translation from OpenGL ES 2.0, 3.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Android Tablet
    ANGLE screenshot 1
     

    • ANGLE is the most popular Android Tablet alternative to DirectX.

    • ANGLE is Free and Open SourceDirectX is Free and Proprietary
  9. Allegro icon

    Allegro

     12 likes
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    Allegro 4 and Allegro 5 are cross-platform, libraries mainly aimed at video game and multimedia programming. They handle common, low-level tasks such as creating windows, accepting user input, loading data, drawing images, playing sounds, etc.

    37 Allegro alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • iPhone
     
  10. PyOpenGL icon

    PyOpenGL

     3 likes
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    Python bindings for OpenGL API.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  11. SlimDX icon

    SlimDX

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    SlimDX enables developers to easily build DirectX applications using .NET technologies such as C#, VB.NET, and IronPython. It is an efficient, simple, and lean wrapper that fully encompasses all of Microsoft's gaming and multimedia technologies.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    SlimDX screenshot 1
     
  12. Crystal Space icon

    Crystal Space

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    Crystal Space is a mature, full-featured Software Development Kit (SDK) providing real-time 3D graphics for applications such as games and virtual reality. It is free (LGPL) and cross-platform (Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X).

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Yo Frankie!
     
  13. GLFW icon

    GLFW

     6 likes
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    GLFW is an Open Source, multi-platform library for OpenGL, OpenGL ES and Vulkan development on the desktop. It provides a simple API for creating windows, contexts and surfaces, receiving input and events.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  14. GDI icon

    GDI

     3 likes
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    GDI++.dll is a replacement for the Windows default font rasterizer, which gives you a better font-smoothing capability, just like Mac OS X.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    GDI screenshot 1
     
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