OpenGL Alternatives

OpenGL is described as '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' and is a very popular graphics library in the development category. There are more than 10 alternatives to OpenGL for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iPhone apps. The best OpenGL alternative is Vulkan, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like OpenGL are Bevy Game Engine, DirectX, WebGL and Amethyst Game Engine.

OpenGL iconOpenGL
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OpenGL is the premier environment for developing portable, interactive 2D and 3D graphics applications. Since its...

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OpenGL alternatives page was last updated Mar 12, 2024
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  1. Vulkan icon
     90 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

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • Chrome OS
    • Tizen OS
    • SteamOS

    Vulkan Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  OPENGL

    Vulkan VS OpenGL

     
    Comments about Vulkan as an Alternative to OpenGL
    Guest
    Negative Jun 1, 2019
    -1

    I spent half a year studying this wretched API and was very disappointed, it is not designed to work with graphics.

    This API is made only for implementation in ready-made solutions on opengl to slightly increase the number of frames per second (+5 - +10) in exchange for really titanic efforts (unreadable code in> 10,000 lines).

    Unfortunately, Vulkan API - fail. Better try DirectX.

    Guest
    Positive Feb 13, 2018
    -5

    Because Vulkan is OpenGL's successor.

    OpenGL Icon
    Vulkan icon
    • Most users think Vulkan is a great OpenGL alternative.

    • Vulkan is the most popular Windows, Android, Mac & Linux alternative to OpenGL.

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

    • Vulkan is Free and Open SourceOpenGL is also Free and Open Source
  2. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    A refreshingly simple data-driven game engine built in Rust. Free and Open Source Forever!

    134 Bevy Game Engine alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Bevy Game Engine Features

    1.  3D Game Engine
    2.  Rust
    3.  2D Game Engine
    4.  Scene System

    Bevy Game Engine VS OpenGL

     
  3. DirectX icon
     41 likes
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    DirectX is a set of components in Windows that allows software, primarily and especially games, to work directly with your video and audio hardware.

    12 DirectX alternatives

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows

    DirectX VS OpenGL

     
  4. WebGL icon
     24 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.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Online

    WebGL Features

    1.  OPENGL

    WebGL VS OpenGL

     
    • Most users think WebGL is a great OpenGL alternative.

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

    • WebGL is Free and Open SourceOpenGL is also Free and Open Source
  5. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Amethyst uses gfx-rs to render graphics with Vulkan or Metal. It is meant to be used for 2D and 3D, with various utilities for both types of games. It should be beginner friendly but also allow more advanced uses such as custom render passes and GLSL shaders.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    Discontinued

    The website is unavailable, and the GitHub repository has been archived in April 2022.

    Amethyst Game Engine Features

    1.  3D Game Engine
    2.  2D Game Engine

    Amethyst Game Engine VS OpenGL

     
  6. Metal icon
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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...

    License model

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac

    Metal VS OpenGL

     
    • Metal is the most popular commercial alternative to OpenGL.

    • Metal is Paid and ProprietaryOpenGL is Free and Open Source
  7. Allegro icon
     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.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • iPhone

    Allegro VS OpenGL

     
    • Allegro is the most popular iPhone alternative to OpenGL.

    • Allegro is Free and Open SourceOpenGL is also Free and Open Source
  8. ANGLE icon
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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.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Android Tablet

    ANGLE Features

    1.  OPENGL
    2.  WebGL

    ANGLE VS OpenGL

     
    • ANGLE is the most popular iPad & Android Tablet alternative to OpenGL.

    • ANGLE is Free and Open SourceOpenGL is also Free and Open Source
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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).

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Discontinued

    Discontinued since July 2012 : http://www.crystalspace3d.org/main/Download

    Crystal Space Features

    1.  Games library

    Crystal Space VS OpenGL

     
    Comments about Crystal Space as an Alternative to OpenGL
    Guest
    Negative Feb 13, 2018
    -1

    Crystal Space is a software using 3D rendering/drawing APIs. OpenGL is a rendering/drawing API.

    OpenGL Icon
    Crystal Space icon
    • Crystal Space is Free and Open SourceOpenGL is also Free and Open Source
  10.  Like
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    Mantle is a graphics API specification; the software component that makes it easy to apply programming techniques and optimizations written for consoles to PCs with Graphics Core Next (GCN) Architecture.

    License model

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux

    Mantle Features

    1.  Development API

    Mantle VS OpenGL

     
  11. GDI icon
     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.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Discontinued

    Abandoned since 2006... : http://drwatson.nobody.jp/gdi /download-en.html

    GDI VS OpenGL

     
11 of 11 OpenGL alternatives