OpenGL Alternatives for Windows

There are many alternatives to OpenGL for Windows if you are looking for a replacement. The best Windows alternative is Vulkan, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 10 alternatives to OpenGL and eight of them are available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Windows alternatives to OpenGL are DirectX, Amethyst Game Engine, ANGLE and Crystal Space.

filter to find the best alternatives

OpenGL alternatives are mainly Graphics Libraries, but if you're looking for Game Development Tools you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Free, Open Source and Windows. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to OpenGL.
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Alternatives list

  1. 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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    2
    20
    Comments about Vulkan as an Alternative to OpenGL
    Guest
    Negative
    -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.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    -5

    Because Vulkan is OpenGL's successor.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    OpenGL Icon
    Vulkan icon

    • Almost everyone thinks 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. DirectX icon

    DirectX

     42 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

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    DirectX screenshot 1
     
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    6
  4. Amethyst Game Engine icon

    Amethyst Game Engine

     4 likes
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    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.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  5. 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 iPhone, iPad & Android Tablet alternative to OpenGL.

    • ANGLE is Free and Open SourceOpenGL is also Free and Open Source
  6. 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!
     
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    1
    Comments about Crystal Space as an Alternative to OpenGL
    Guest
    Negative
    -1

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

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    OpenGL Icon
    Crystal Space icon
    • Crystal Space is Free and Open SourceOpenGL is also Free and Open Source
  7. 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
     

  9. Mantle

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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.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  10. 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
     
8 of 8 OpenGL alternatives