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2 reviews trackedThe Bottom Line
Entry price
Free, no paid tier
Biggest pro
Completely free
Biggest con
Smaller community
What is Defold?
Defold is a free, source-available game engine for creating 2D and 3D games. Owned by the Defold Foundation, known for small build sizes and Lua scripting.
Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, iOS, Android
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Completely free
- Tiny builds
- Good for mobile
Cons
- Smaller community
- Lua learning curve
Ratings Across the Web
5(2 reviews)
Ratings aggregated from independent review platforms. Learn more
Preview
Key Features
2D and 3DLua scriptingSmall buildsCross-platformOpen sourceEditor
Pricing Plans
Pricing checked Jun 22, 2026
Most Popular
Free
Free
- No licensing fees
- No royalties
- All platforms
- Source available
Reviews
$99Free with your review
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Defold FAQ
What specific animation capabilities does Defold offer for both 2D and 3D elements?
Defold provides a robust animation system supporting flipbook animations for sprites, GUI nodes, and particles. It also includes bone animations for Spine models with blending and inverse kinematics, alongside property animations for movement, rotation, and custom script properties with various easing functions.
How does Defold facilitate cross-platform deployment without requiring external tools like Xcode or Android Studio?
Defold is a turn-key solution that enables one-click deployment to all target platforms from a single codebase and content. Its APIs are consistent across platforms, eliminating the need for platform-specific configurations or external development environments for mobile deployment.
What level of customization is available for the rendering pipeline in Defold?
Defold features a fully scriptable rendering pipeline, providing low-level access for developers. This allows for extensive customization of how graphics are rendered within the engine.
Which third-party tools and integrations are supported for extending Defold's functionality?
Defold integrates with various tools such as Atom, VS Code, Rive, Spine, TexturePacker, and Tiled. Additionally, it supports custom configurations, allowing users to add new functionality from the Asset Portal or write their own native code to extend the engine.
How does Defold's engine size compare to other game engines on different platforms?
Defold boasts a remarkably small engine runtime. For example, on Android (arm64-v8a), its engine size is 1.97MB, significantly smaller than Unity (24.33MB) and Godot (24.29MB). Similar size advantages are observed on iOS and HTML5 platforms.
What kind of physics simulations are integrated into Defold, and how can they be controlled?
Defold integrates both 2D (Box2D) and 3D (Bullet) physics engines. It supports static, dynamic, and kinematic (scriptable) physics objects, with shape-based and ray-cast collision detection, robust triggers, and joint and motor support, all of which can be controlled via code.
Source: defold.com