Best JavaScript and HTML5 game engines (updated for 2025)

I know what you’re thinking: why on Earth would you use JavaScript to develop games? I thought the same thing when I discovered that you could use JavaScript and HTML5 to develop 3D games. The truth is, since the introduction of the JavaScript WebGL API, modern browsers have intuitive capabilities that enable them to render more complex and sophisticated 2D and 3D graphics without relying on third-party plugins.

You could start your web game development journey with pure JavaScript, which is probably the best way to learn if you’re a beginner. But why reinvent the wheel when there are so many widely adopted game engines to choose from?

If you didn’t know, an HTML5 game engine is a software framework designed to help you build browser-based games with HTML5 technologies, primarily JavaScript, along with HTML and CSS. Most HTML5 game engines are built for running directly in modern web browsers without the need for plugins, This makes them ideal for creating cross-platform, mobile-friendly experiences.

This guide ranks the top 10 JavaScript/HTML5 game engines by popularity, capability, and use case. Whether you’re a solo indie developer, mobile-focused creator, rapid prototyper, or part of a small team, there’s something here for you. These engines power everything from lightweight browser games to full-featured cross-platform apps.

We’ll highlight each engine’s strengths, learning curve, and ideal scenarios—plus provide an easy-to-follow demo (web-based) to get you started.

We’ll cover:

• Three.js
• Pixi.js
• Phaser
• Babylon.js
• Matter.js
• PlayCanvas
• GDevelop
• Defold
• Godot Web Build
• Construct

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Editor’s note: This article was updated by Saleh Mubashar in May 2025 to cover four additional HTML5 game engines: GDevelop, Defold, Godot Web Build, and Construct.

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How to choose the best engine for your needs

Before we start, here are a few important factors to consider when selecting a JavaScript/HTML5 game engine. The right choice depends on your project type, experience level, and deployment goals:

2D vs. 3D support

Decide whether your game will be 2D, 3D, or a mix. Some engines (like Pixi.js) are built for 2D, while others (like Three.js or Babylon.js) excel at 3D rendering.

Ease of use/learning curve

Engines like Phaser and Construct are beginner-friendly, while others may require solid JavaScript or game dev experience.

Built-in tools and editors

Some engines come with visual editors or online sandboxes that help speed up development (e.g., Godot Web, PlayCanvas, Construct), while others are code-only.

Performance and mobile optimization

If you’re targeting mobile browsers or devices, performance is key. While all modern engines support mobile browsers, solutions like Phaser with Cordova or Defold’s native export options provide better performance for app store distribution. With web-only engines, a lot of tedious optimization is needed, especially for lower-end devices.

License and cost

Licensing affects what you can build and publish. Most engines in this guide are open source (MIT, Apache), but others, like Construct, use a freemium model that may limit commercial use without a paid plan. Make sure the license works for your use case.

Community and resources

Popular engines like Phaser, Three.js, and Babylon have large, active communities, frequent updates, extensive tutorials, GitHub repositories, and Stack Overflow threads. On the other hand, newer or more niche engines may offer unique features but might lack community support, making them harder to work with for solo developers or beginners.

HTML5 engine comparison table

To help you decide faster, here’s a side-by-side comparison of the top engines based on the criteria above:

Engine	Type	License / Cost	Mobile Support	Editor Support	Community & Resources	Best For
Three.js	3D	MIT (free and open source)	Web browsers only	Online editor present on the three.js website	Large community with complete documentation and large number of examples	3D rendering, WebGL projects, visualizations
Pixi.js	2D	MIT (free and open source)	Web browsers + native via 3rd party apps	No editor but it has a code playground on its site	Extensive documentation and a large number of examples	Fast 2D rendering, UI-heavy games, interactive apps
Phaser	2D	MIT (free and open source). Phaser Editor is a paid product	Web browsers + native via 3rd party apps	Visual editor available	Large and active community, excellent docs and a plugin ecosystem	2D browser and mobile games with rapid development needs
Babylon.js	3D	Apache 2.0 (free and open source)	Excellent – via Web (PWA), Ionic, React Native, or Babylon Native for custom apps	Online playground for real-time coding and testing	Very active forum, large dev base, backed by Microsoft and extensive tutorials	High-end 3D browser games, mobile/desktop experiences, cross-platform
Matter.js	2D (Physics)	MIT (free and open source)	Web browsers only	No dedicated editor, but includes tools like Inspector and Demo GUI	Decent community, large number of examples and experimental MatterTools available	Adding realistic 2D physics to web games and visualizations
PlayCanvas	3D	MIT (engine), proprietary cloud editor; Free (public projects)	Mobile-first, runs in all modern browsers	Full-featured online visual editor with real-time collaboration	Excellent documentation and a large number of tutorials and examples	Browser-based 3D games and WebGL rendering
GDevelop	2D, 3D	MIT (free and open source); Paid cloud services available	Native export to Android and iOS	Full-featured editor (desktop, web)	Active community, asset store and extensive documentation	2D/3D no-code games for beginners, educators, indie devs
Defold	2D, 3D	Source-available (Defold License, free forever, no royalties)	Full support for Android and iOS	Full-featured downloadable IDE with visual editor	Strong documentation, active extension portal, supported by Defold Foundation	Lightweight 2D and 3D games, mobile and HTML5 games, cross-platform releases
Godot	2D, 3D	MIT (free and open source)	Native export to Android and iOS	Full-featured downloadable editor	Very large and growing community, excellent docs, asset store, lots of tutorials	Full 2D/3D games, mobile, desktop, and even console projects
Construct	2D	Limited free version; paid subscription for full use	Full export to Android, iOS via Cordova and HTML5	Full-featured visual editor (browser-based, works offline too)	Strong and active community, official tutorials, asset store, marketplace	No-code/low-code 2D games, quick prototyping, educational uses

1. Three.js (r 176)

Three.js is one of the most popular JavaScript libraries for creating and animating 3D computer graphics in a web browser using WebGL. It’s also a great tool for creating 3D games for web browsers.

Because Three.js is based on JavaScript, it’s relatively easy to add any interactivity between 3D objects and user interfaces, such as keyboard and mouse. This makes the library perfectly suitable for making 3D games on the web.

Pros

• Easy to learn — The most important advantage of Three.js — aside from its ability to perform complex rendering very well — is that it’s very easy to get started with
• Plenty of examples — Due to its popularity, there are countless examples to help you get started. Below are a few example projects that show what’s possible with Three.js:

• Large community — Three.js has 106k stars and 35.7k forks on GitHub. It has plenty of users and a sizable community of developers working with and creating various third-party tools and extensions for the library
• Good documentation — Robust documentation is usually a great indicator of a strong library, and Three.js has excellent docs
• Great performance — Three.js has a performance advantage over other libraries I have used
• PBR rendering — Three.js has built-in physically based rendering (PBR), which makes rendering graphics more accurate
• Improved WebGPU renderer — Now production-ready, still opt-in

Cons

• No rendering pipeline — This makes a lot of modern rendering techniques impossible/infeasible to implement with Three.js
• Not a game engine — Although Three.js possesses the basic functionalities for creating games, it is not a game engine like PlayCanvas and Unity that provides features beyond interactivity and rendering. However, Three.js’ API can be built upon to create a game engine; an example of such is the Rogue engine
• Geared toward novices — Because the API caters to novices, many advanced features are hidden
• Lack of support — There is no built-in support for spatial indexing, making exact ray casting, frustum culling, and collision detection hopelessly inefficient in complex scenarios

Three.js in action

If you’re looking to delve into creating simple or complex 3D objects on the web, Three.js is the go-to library. Its top advantages include a vast community of talented users and abundant examples and resources.

Three.js is the first 3D animated library I worked with, and I’d recommend it to anyone starting out with game development.

Let’s create a simple rotating geometry to demonstrate what Three.js can do:

import * as THREE from 'js/three.module.js';
var camera, scene, renderer;
var geometry, material, mesh;
animate();

Create an init function to set up everything we need to run our demo animation with Three.js:

function init() {
  const camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera( 60, window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, .01, 20 );
  camera.position.z = 1;
  const scene = new THREE.Scene();
  const geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry( 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 );
  const material = new THREE.MeshNormalMaterial();
  const mesh = new THREE.Mesh( geometry, material );
  scene.add( mesh );
  const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer( { antialias: true } );
  renderer.setSize( window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight );
  document.body.appendChild( renderer.domElement );
}

Next, create an animate function to animate the object with your desired motion type:

function animate() {
    init();
    requestAnimationFrame( animate );
    mesh.rotation.x += .01;
    mesh.rotation.y += .02;
    renderer.render( scene, camera );
}

The finished result should look like this:

Refer to the repo and official documentation to learn more about Three.js.

2. Pixi.js (v8)

If you’re looking for a JS library to create rich and interactive 2D graphics with support for cross-platform applications, look no further than Pixi.js. This HTML5 creation engine enables you to develop animations and games without prior knowledge of the WebGL API.

Pros

• Fast performance — Just like Three.js, Pixi.js is very fast
• Large community — With 45k stars and 4.9k forks on GitHub, Pixi.js boasts a large community of users/developers
• Multiplatform support — Also like Three.js, Pixi.js supports multiple platforms, such as the web and native systems like Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac
• Easy API — The API is easy for a beginner to understand
• Support for WebGL and Canvas fallback — Pixi.js uses a WebGL renderer but also supports a Canvas fallback

Cons

• Overly complex — In my experience, Three.js is much easier to get started with than Pixi.js
• Not a complete solution — Pixi.js proudly only supports the renderer

Pixi.js in action

Pixi is a strong choice in most scenarios, especially if you’re creating performance-oriented 3D interactive graphics with device compatibility in mind. Pixi’s support for Canvas fallback in cases where WebGL fails is a particularly enticing feature.

Let’s build a simple demo to see Pixi.js in action. Use the following command to add Pixi.js to your project:

npm install pixi.js

Or CDN:

Next, pass in some default configurations to your Phaser engine:

const config = {
  type: Phaser.AUTO,
  width: 800,
  height: 600,
  physics: {
    default: "arcade",
    arcade: {
      gravity: { y: 200 },
    },
  },
  scene: {
    preload: preload,
    create: create,
  },
};
const game = new Phaser.Game(config);

Create a preload function to load in your default static files:

function preload() {
  this.load.setBaseURL("https://labs.phaser.io");
  this.load.image("sky", "assets/skies/space3.png");
  this.load.image("plane", "assets/sprites/ww2plane.png");
  this.load.image("green", "assets/particles/green.png");
  this.load.image("astroid", "assets/games/asteroids/asteroid1.png");
  this.load.image("astroid2", "assets/games/asteroids/asteroid1.png");
  this.load.image("astroid3", "assets/games/asteroids/asteroid1.png");
}

Finally, define a create function to display your newly created game:

function create() {
  this.add.image(400, 300, "sky");
  this.add.image(700, 300, "astroid");
  this.add.image(100, 200, "astroid2");
  this.add.image(400, 40, "astroid3");
  const particles = this.add.particles("green");
  const emitter = particles.createEmitter({
    speed: 100,
    scale: { start: 1, end: 0 },
    blendMode: "ADD",
  });
  const plane = this.physics.add.image(400, 100, "plane");
  plane.setVelocity(100, 200);
  plane.setBounce(1, 1);
  plane.setCollideWorldBounds(true);
  emitter.startFollow(plane);
}

Refer to the repo and official documentation to learn more about Phaser.js.

4. Babylon.js (v8)

Babylon.js is a powerful, simple, open game and rendering engine packed into a friendly JavaScript framework.

Pros

• Playground — Babylon provides a Playground tool for testing things out before going into full development, and it has great documentation to boot
• Strong community support — Babylon has a forum with a large community of active developers and users that are very helpful. The framework has 24k stars and 3.5k forks on GitHub
• Up-to-date codebase — The framework enjoys a frequently updated codebase and active third-party tool development
• PBR rendering — Support for PBR rendering is excellent
• Vote of confidence — Babylon is used and supported by large brands such as Adobe, Microsoft, and more
• Maintenance — Bugs are often ironed out quickly

Cons

• Lack of maturity — Babylon was first released in 2013, which makes it quite young compared to many of its competitors
• Project size constraints — Not suitable for smaller projects

Babylon.js in action

Many large brands trust Babylon.js as their game development engine of choice. The Babylon Playground, a thriving hub of code samples, is a great tool to help you get started with the framework.

Babylon and its modules are published on npm. To install it, run the following command in your command line tool:

npm install babylonjs --save

Alternatively, you can integrate the library into your project via CDN. To do so, create an index.html file and add the following code:

Next, create a script.js file and link it to the HTML file using the following code:

Now, open the script.js file and add the following code to instantiate a new PlayCanvas application:

 const canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
  const app = new pc.Application(canvas);
  window.addEventListener('resize', () => app.resizeCanvas());
  const box = new pc.Entity('cube');
  box.addComponent('model', {
      type: 'box'
  });
  app.root.addChild(box);

To create the camera and light for the object, add the following code:

 const camera = new pc.Entity('camera');
  camera.addComponent('camera', {
      clearColor: new pc.Color(.1, .1, .1)
  });
  app.root.addChild(camera);
  camera.setPosition(0, 0, 3);
  const light = new pc.Entity('light');
  light.addComponent('light');
  app.root.addChild(light);
  light.setEulerAngles(46, 0, 0);
  app.on('update', dt => box.rotate(10 * dt, 20 * dt, 30 * dt));
  app.start();

The code above should produce the following result:

Refer to the repo and official documentation to learn more about PlayCanvas.

7. GDevelop (v5)

GDevelop is a free, open-source no-code game engine ideal for creating 2D and lightweight 3D games. It features a powerful visual editor, an active community, detailed documentation, and an extensive asset store. With export options for Android, iOS, desktop, and the web, you can deploy your game almost anywhere.

Pros

• Supports both 2D and 3D game development
• Visual drag-and-drop editor for easy development
• Export to web, desktop, iOS, and Android
• 2,000+ ready-made assets and hundreds of game templates
• Active open-source community and detailed docs

Cons

• Not all assets/templates are free
• Advanced features and multiple deployments per day are only available through paid plans
• Basic 3D functionality compared to specialized engines

To get started with GDevelop, download it from gdevelop.io/download — it’s available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and even runs in the browser. Installation steps vary slightly by platform but are beginner-friendly. Once installed, you can either customize a game template or start a new project from scratch:

Refer to the repo and official documentation to learn more about GDevelop.

8. Defold (v1.1)

Defold is a source-available, cross-platform game engine ideal for creating lightweight 2D and 3D games. It comes with a full-featured IDE that includes both a visual editor and a Lua-based code editor, offering flexibility for both no-code and code-first developers. Similar to GDevelop, it has cross-platform support for all major web, desktop, and mobile platforms.

Pros

• Supports both 2D and 3D development with a high-performance runtime
• Full-featured IDE with visual editor and Lua scripting
• Cross-platform export to HTML5, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and consoles
• Hundreds of free assets to choose from
• No paid plans — all features are available for free
• Backed by an active community and maintained by the Defold Foundation

Cons

• Lacks built-in UI components — developers build from low-level elements
• Requires scripting for complex game logic
• May involve a steeper learning curve compared to no-code-only engines

To get started, download Defold from defold.com/download. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. There’s nothing else to install. Just open the editor, start a new project or use a template, and you’re ready to go:

Refer to the repo and official documentation to learn more about Defold.

9. Godot (v4)

Godot is a powerful, open-source game engine designed for both 2D and 3D game development. It supports GDScript (its own Python-like language), C#, and C++, making it accessible for beginners and flexible for experienced developers. Godot’s node-based architecture encourages a modular approach to game development. It is one of the most popular game engines out there, comparable to Unreal and Unity in terms of popularity.

Pros

• Supports both 2D and 3D development
• Full-featured IDE with visual editor and scripting
• Cross-platform export to all major web, desktop, and mobile platforms
• No paid plans (all features are available for free)
• Very large and active community with extensive documentation and tutorials

Cons

• Steeper learning curve, especially for GDScript
• Not as performant for mobile and web (it’s more desktop-focused)

To get started, download Godot from defold.com/download — it runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. You can also work on the online editor:

Refer to the repo and official documentation to learn more about Godot.

10. Construct (v3)

Construct is a browser-based, no-code/low-code 2D game engine designed for rapid prototyping and educational use. It has a fully visual editor, eliminating the need for any coding. This makes it excellent for beginners. Construct runs entirely in the browser, works offline, and offers export options for HTML5, Android, iOS, desktop, and more.

Pros

• No-code event system is ideal for beginners and non-programmers
• Optional JavaScript scripting for advanced logic
• One-click export to web and mobile (Cordova-based)
• Active community, tons of tutorials, and official documentation

Cons

• Very limited free version — most features require a subscription
• Primarily 2D focused
• Business licenses are required for commercial use by organizations:

Refer to the official documentation to learn more about Construct.

Final thoughts: What’s the best HTML5 game engine in 2025?

By breaking down the pros, cons, and use cases associated with each game engine listed above, I hope you gained some insight into which one best suits the type of game or animation you want to create.

If you’re primarily looking for a powerful rendering tool for the web, Three.js is a top choice. But if you want an all-in-one game engine with a visual editor, tools like Godot, Defold, or GDevelop offer an excellent balance between usability and capability for both 2D and 3D development.

Each engine has its own strengths — the best one ultimately depends on your experience level, goals, and the type of game you want to build.

What game engine do you use in your game development projects? Let us know in the comments!