Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

PixiJS VS melonJS

Compare PixiJS VS melonJS and see what are their differences

PixiJS logo PixiJS

Fast and flexible WebGL-based HTML5 game and app development library.

melonJS logo melonJS

melonJS is an open source HTML5 game engine that empowers developers and designers to focus on...
  • PixiJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-25
  • melonJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-30

PixiJS features and specs

  • Performance
    PixiJS provides high performance through the use of WebGL, offering fast rendering capabilities that can handle complex scenes and animations efficiently.
  • Cross-Platform
    PixiJS is compatible with various platforms, including desktops, tablets, and mobile devices, ensuring a consistent experience across different environments.
  • Rich Features
    It comes with a variety of built-in features such as sprites, filters, masks, and support for different shapes and textures, which makes it powerful for creating interactive graphics.
  • Ease of Use
    The library offers a user-friendly API and extensive documentation, making it easy to learn and integrate into projects, even for developers who are new to WebGL.
  • Community Support
    PixiJS has an active community and a wealth of resources including forums, tutorials, and GitHub repositories, which help users troubleshoot issues and improve their projects.

Possible disadvantages of PixiJS

  • Size
    PixiJS can be relatively large in terms of file size, which may affect load times and performance, particularly for users with slow internet connections or limited bandwidth.
  • Browser Compatibility
    Since PixiJS relies heavily on WebGL, it may face compatibility issues with older browsers or devices that do not support advanced WebGL features.
  • Complexity
    While powerful, PixiJS can become complex when building more advanced applications, requiring a deep understanding of 3D graphics and WebGL concepts.
  • Limited 3D Support
    PixiJS is primarily a 2D rendering engine and lacks comprehensive support for 3D graphics, which might be a limitation for projects requiring 3D rendering.
  • Memory Management
    Handling memory efficiently can be challenging, especially in complex scenes with many textures and sprites, leading to potential memory leaks or performance degradation.

melonJS features and specs

  • Lightweight
    melonJS is known for being lightweight, which makes it ideal for simple games and faster loading times. It eliminates the bloat commonly found in more extensive game engines, ensuring better performance in resource-limited environments.
  • 2D Game Focus
    The engine is designed specifically for 2D games, providing tailored features and optimizations that help developers create efficient 2D applications without the unnecessary complications of a 3D engine.
  • HTML5 Compatibility
    melonJS is an HTML5 game engine that runs smoothly in modern browsers without needing plugins. This makes it an excellent choice for web-based games and applications.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, melonJS provides developers the opportunity to contribute to the engine’s development or modify it based on their needs, promoting community engagement and flexibility.
  • Community Support
    The engine has an active community that shares resources, tutorials, and support, making it easier for new users to learn and work with melonJS.

Possible disadvantages of melonJS

  • Limited 3D Support
    As a 2D-focused engine, melonJS has minimal to no support for 3D graphics and features, which can be a limitation for developers looking to expand into the third dimension.
  • Smaller Feature Set
    Compared to larger engines like Unity or Unreal, melonJS offers a more limited set of features and tools, which might impede highly complex game development.
  • Steeper Learning Curve for Beginners
    Some users might find melonJS's structure and setup challenging if they are accustomed to more visual scripting environments, as a solid understanding of JavaScript is required.
  • Less Extensive Documentation
    While there is documentation available, it may not be as exhaustive or detailed as that of more popular game engines, potentially making it harder to find answers for specific issues.
  • Lower Popularity
    melonJS is not as widely known or used as some other game engines, which can limit the availability of third-party plugins and assets tailored specifically for this engine.

Analysis of PixiJS

Overall verdict

  • PixiJS is an excellent choice for developers looking for a versatile and efficient 2D rendering engine. Its features and community support make it suitable for both beginners and experienced developers needing a reliable and performance-oriented solution.

Why this product is good

  • PixiJS is a popular 2D rendering engine for creating interactive and visually appealing graphics. It is highly efficient and built on WebGL, which allows for high-performance rendering. PixiJS is also valued for its simplicity, flexibility, and ease of integration with other libraries and frameworks. It has a large community and a wealth of documentation and tutorials available, making it easier for developers to learn and troubleshoot issues. Furthermore, PixiJS supports a variety of rendering needs, such as games, web applications, and other graphic-intensive projects.

Recommended for

  • Developers creating 2D games or interactive applications
  • Projects that require high-performance graphics rendering
  • Web applications needing complex animations and graphics
  • Developers looking for a library with extensive community support and resources

PixiJS videos

PixiJS Part 3: Renderer, Ticker, & Stage

More videos:

  • Review - Learn PixiJS in 20 Minutes

melonJS videos

No melonJS videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PixiJS and melonJS)
Javascript UI Libraries
Game Development
70 70%
30% 30
Flowcharts
100 100%
0% 0
Game Engine
76 76%
24% 24

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, PixiJS seems to be a lot more popular than melonJS. While we know about 72 links to PixiJS, we've tracked only 1 mention of melonJS. 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.

PixiJS mentions (72)

  • Trying to Replace the DOM with Canvas — And Failing
    To improve performance, another team built a POC replacing standard DOM elements with a canvas managed by a library called pixi.js. The idea was to boost rendering speed. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Building an AI Powered Camera for David Bowie
    We can now decide how we want to display the data.image result back to our user. You can simply throw it up in an tag or generate a reveal video on the fly like I’ve done using Pixi.JS and MediaRecorder. Perhaps a topic for another dev blog. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Tattooing The Black Keys Fans Using MediaDevices and PixiJS
    For this application, we gain access to the user’s camera using MediaDevices and then place it onto a PixiJS canvas as a video sprite. Then, we load the tattoo as an additional sprite and give it a bit of opacity and blending to bleed it into the user’s skin. Simple controls are added to allow the user to rotate, scale, and position the tattoo for the perfect inking. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Chapter 1: Boring SVG Manipulation
    And canvas felt almost natural and invoked heavy nostalgia from the first time I touched keyboard and wrote primitive program to draw a house out of lines utilizing Basic. Later on I had a chance to broaden my expertise, when I was doing my hobby game project with Pixi and small bits and pieces on FindLabs pages. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • JSON Canvas – An open file format for infinite canvas data
    The canvas in Obsidian is as the whole app very well made. I wondered what they are using as well. My guess is https://www.xyflow.com/, which is for drawing nodes. More general purpose would be http://fabricjs.com/. Or very low level https://pixijs.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
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melonJS mentions (1)

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PixiJS and melonJS, you can also consider the following products

Three.js - A JavaScript 3D library which makes WebGL simpler.

Phaser - Desktop and Mobile HTML5 game framework. A fast, free and fun open source framework for Canvas and WebGL powered browser games.

Construct 2 - Scirra Construct is a 2D game development engine with a focus on building games visually.

Paper.js - Open source vector graphics scripting framework that runs on top of the HTML5 Canvas.

StageXL - Create 2D games and apps with the Flash-like API for the Dart programming language.

p5.js - JS library for creating graphic and interactive experiences