Vulkan Alternatives for Linux

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

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Alternatives list

  1. OpenGL icon
     189 likes

    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...

    11 OpenGL alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • BSD
    • Haiku
     
  2. SDL icon
     35 likes

    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
     
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    1
    SDL vs Vulkan Comments
    aaronfranke
    Negative
    0

    SDL handles everything (input, sound, files) and wraps around graphics APIs like Vulkan. Not the same thing.

    • SDL is Free and Open SourceVulkan is also Free and Open Source
  3. ANGLE icon
     1 like

    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.

    11 ANGLE alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Android Tablet
     
  4. Allegro icon
     12 likes

    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.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • iPhone
     
  5. ModernGL icon
     1 like

    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.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  6. Mesa icon
     9 likes

    Mesa is a software library for 3D computer graphics that provides a generic Khronos-compliant OpenGL implementation for rendering three-dimensional graphics on multiple platforms.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  7. PyOpenGL icon
     3 likes

    Python bindings for OpenGL API.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  8. 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
     
8 of 8 Vulkan alternatives