Vulkan Alternatives

Vulkan is described as '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' and is a popular app in the development category. There are more than 10 alternatives to Vulkan for a variety of platforms, including Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and BSD. The best alternative is OpenGL, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Vulkan are WebGL, SDL, Microsoft DirectX and CrossBrowdy.

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Vulkan

Free • Open Source

Mac
Windows
Linux
Android
Chrome OS
Tizen OS
SteamOS

Vulkan is a new generation graphics and compute API that provides high-efficiency, cross-platform access to modern GPUs...

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OpenGL
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No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
Android
iPhone
BSD
Haiku
10 alternatives to OpenGL
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...

OpenGL has no features, suggest some!

OpenGL vs Vulkan opinions
Almost everyone thinks OpenGL is a great alternative to Vulkan.
WebGL
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Online
15 alternatives to WebGL
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.
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WebGL Features
OPENGL
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SDL
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
Windows Mobile
iPhone
Symbian S60
BSD
iPad
Haiku
22 alternatives to SDL
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...
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SDL Features
Drawing 2D
Extensible window manager
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SDL vs Vulkan opinions
pros, cons and recent comments
aaronfranke
SDL handles everything (input, sound, files) and wraps around graphics APIs like Vulkan. Not the same thing.
Negative comment•
0
Microsoft DirectX
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No
Free • Proprietary
Windows
12 alternatives to Microsoft DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms.

Microsoft DirectX has no features, suggest some!
Bundleware
Bundled with Bing Bar.
CrossBrowdy
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Game Development Tool
Online
471 alternatives to CrossBrowdy
CrossBrowdy is an open-source and free JavaScript framework that let developers create multimedia apps, game engines, games, emulators and so on.
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CrossBrowdy Features
Progressive Web App
Cross-Platform
Allegro
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Game Development Tool
Mac
Windows
Linux
iPhone
29 alternatives to Allegro
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.

Allegro has no features, suggest some!
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PyOpenGL
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No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
5 alternatives to PyOpenGL
Python bindings for OpenGL API.
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PyOpenGL Features
OPENGL
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ModernGL
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
3 alternatives to ModernGL
OpenGL is a great environment for developing portable, platform independent, interactive 2D and 3D graphics applications. The API implementation in Python is cumbersome, resulting in applications with high latency.
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ModernGL Features
1. PortableModernGL can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
OPENGL
Metal
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Yes
No
Paid • Proprietary
Mac
10 alternatives to Metal
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...

Metal has no features, suggest some!
Crystal Space
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
10 alternatives to Crystal Space
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).
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Crystal Space Features
Games library
Discontinued
Discontinued since July 2012 : http://www.crystalspace3d.org/main/Download

Showing 10 of 10 alternatives

OpenGL vs Vulkan opinions

WebGL Features

SDL Features

SDL vs Vulkan opinions

CrossBrowdy Features

PyOpenGL Features

ModernGL Features

Crystal Space Features