Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

OpenGL VS Metal

Compare OpenGL VS Metal and see what are their differences

OpenGL logo OpenGL

OpenGL is the premier environment for developing portable, interactive 2D and 3D graphics...

Metal logo Metal

Apple's low-level, hardware-accelerated 3D graphic and compute shader API.
  • OpenGL Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-25
  • Metal Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-23

OpenGL features and specs

  • Cross-platform Compatibility
    OpenGL is platform-independent, allowing developers to write code that can run on multiple platforms such as Windows, macOS, Linux, and others without modification.
  • Wide Hardware Support
    Extensive support across a broad range of graphics hardware, making it a reliable choice for ensuring that applications will work on various devices.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source graphics API, OpenGL allows for extensive collaboration and contributions from the community, improving its features and performance over time.
  • Industry Standard
    Used widely in the industry for professional applications in areas like CAD, virtual reality, and video games, providing good community support and documentation.
  • Rich Feature Set
    Provides a comprehensive set of features for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics, offering flexibility for developers to create complex visual effects.

Possible disadvantages of OpenGL

  • Complexity
    OpenGL's vast array of features and options can lead to a steep learning curve for new developers who may find it challenging to implement even basic tasks.
  • Obsolete Features
    Some parts of OpenGL are considered outdated, with legacy functionality that may complicate development and require additional effort to modernize older codebases.
  • Performance Overhead
    While generally efficient, OpenGL can introduce overhead compared to lower-level APIs like Vulkan or Direct3D, which offer more direct control of graphics hardware resources.
  • Fragmented Support
    Different platforms and graphics card vendors may implement OpenGL features inconsistently, requiring extra testing and potentially platform-specific workarounds.
  • Low Abstraction
    Despite its flexibility, OpenGL provides a lower level of abstraction compared to some newer APIs, meaning that developers must manage more of the graphics pipeline manually.

Metal features and specs

  • High Performance
    Metal provides low-level access to the GPU, enabling developers to harness the full power of the hardware for maximizing performance in graphics and compute tasks.
  • Unified API
    As a unified API for both graphics and computation, Metal simplifies the development process by allowing developers to use a single API for various tasks across Apple's platforms.
  • Platform Optimization
    Metal is optimized for Apple devices, ensuring that applications run smoothly and efficiently on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS.
  • Reduced Overhead
    With Metal's low-overhead architecture, developers can achieve better performance compared to higher-level graphics APIs by minimizing the CPU workload associated with rendering commands.
  • Advanced Features
    Metal supports the latest graphics techniques, such as tessellation and tile-based deferred rendering, providing developers with the tools needed for creating cutting-edge applications and games.

Possible disadvantages of Metal

  • Platform Specificity
    Metal is an Apple-exclusive API, which limits its use to Apple's ecosystem, potentially requiring additional effort if developers wish to support non-Apple platforms.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Given its low-level nature, Metal may have a steeper learning curve compared to higher-level graphics APIs, making it less accessible for beginners.
  • Smaller Community
    Compared to more widely-used APIs like OpenGL or DirectX, Metal has a smaller community, which might mean fewer resources, third-party tools, and community support options.
  • Frequent Updates
    Metal receives regular updates that may require developers to frequently update their codebase to maintain compatibility, possibly increasing the development and maintenance workload.

OpenGL videos

OSBUDDY 3.0 OPENGL REVIEW - Not as promised??

More videos:

  • Review - Latest OpenGL and Vulkan GPU drivers Pubg gaming Review Poco F1 | 0.18 Mad Miramar Update
  • Review - OpenGL Basic (Fastest Review)

Metal videos

METAL WE MISSED 2019 as chosen by you | Overkill Reviews

More videos:

  • Review - Death METAL Troopers - Reaction / Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to OpenGL and Metal)
Game Engine
55 55%
45% 45
Game Development
58 58%
42% 42
3D Game Engine
66 66%
34% 34
Investing
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using OpenGL and Metal. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Metal seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 39 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

OpenGL mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of OpenGL yet. Tracking of OpenGL recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Metal mentions (39)

  • Ask HN: Resources for General Purpose GPU development on Apple's M* chips?
    There is no general purpose GPU development on Apple M series. There is Metal development. You want to learn Apple M-series gpu and gpgpu development? Learn Metal! https://developer.apple.com/metal/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  •  Resident Evil Village MetalFX Play-through
    MetalFX Upscaling Render complex scenes in less time per frame with high-performance upscaling and anti-aliasing. This year, MetalFX Upscaling supports more devices with improved quality and increased scaling. https://developer.apple.com/metal/. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Users report iPhone 15 is overheating
    I suspect they are trying to compete in the console market without having a console per se. AFAIK the iPhone 15 Pro has 1/3rd of the TFLOPs of the Playstation 5. They also have a smooth TV-connectivity system. Most people who have consoles in the US already have an iPhone in their pocket. Now you just need a controller, some kind of dock for the phone, and pay off a lot of devs to make games for the platform to... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Hi. It seems that everybody is using the GPTK on its own to run games for them to play... Does this tool really help for game development to actually port a game for a commercial penetration to MAC environments?
    Hmm, I don't think that's how they have presented it from watching all the WWDC videos. From the link I sent (https://developer.apple.com/metal/) it's also in a different header. But this is probably kind of a pointless semantics argument haha. Maybe internally Apple can't agree on this anyway. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Personal GPT: A tiny AI Chatbot that runs fully offline on your iPhone
    Barring 3D games, this is perhaps one of the heavier apps that run on a phone. The model takes up about 2.2GB of memory, which is more than half of the memory on most iPhones (except the 12, 13 Pro Maxes and 14 series). Also LLM inference is surprisingly light on the CPU, but quite GPU intensive (because the iOS app uses Metal). So I guess the analogy of games is quite apt. Source: almost 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing OpenGL and Metal, you can also consider the following products

SDL - Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform multimedia library designed to provide low level...

Vulkan - 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.

Unreal Engine - Unreal Engine 4 is a suite of integrated tools for game developers to design and build games, simulations, and visualizations.

WebGL - WebGL is a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 3D computer graphics and 2D graphics within any compatible web browser.

Unity - The multiplatform game creation tools for everyone.

Godot Engine - Feature-packed 2D and 3D open source game engine.