Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

PlayCanvas VS Open 3D Engine

Compare PlayCanvas VS Open 3D Engine and see what are their differences

PlayCanvas logo PlayCanvas

PlayCanvas is an open-source game engine built on WebGL and WebVR.

Open 3D Engine logo Open 3D Engine

Open 3D Engine is an open-source 3D game development engine in real-time.
  • PlayCanvas Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-22
  • Open 3D Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-07-04

PlayCanvas features and specs

  • Browser-Based
    PlayCanvas is entirely browser-based, which means you don't need to install any additional software. This allows for easy access from any computer with a web browser.
  • Real-Time Collaboration
    Multiple developers can work on the same project simultaneously, thanks to PlayCanvas's real-time collaboration features, similar to what you find in Google Docs.
  • Cross-Platform
    Games developed in PlayCanvas can be played across different platforms, including desktop, mobile, and VR with little modification.
  • Open Source Engine
    The PlayCanvas engine is open-source, which allows developers to understand, modify, and improve the underlying code to better suit their needs.
  • Fast Load Times
    The engine is highly optimized for performance, offering fast load times and an efficient execution of game code.
  • WebGL Support
    PlayCanvas leverages the power of WebGL, allowing for advanced 3D graphics directly in the web browser without needing plugins.

Possible disadvantages of PlayCanvas

  • Subscription Costs
    While there is a free tier, certain advanced features and additional storage require a paid subscription, which may be a barrier for smaller studios or hobbyists.
  • Internet Dependency
    Because it's browser-based, you need an internet connection to access the editor and some collaborative features, which can be a limitation in areas with poor connectivity.
  • Limited Asset Store
    PlayCanvas’s asset store is not as extensive as some competitors, meaning developers might need to spend more time creating or sourcing assets from third parties.
  • Learning Curve
    For those new to browser-based game development or the PlayCanvas engine specifically, there might be a steeper learning curve compared to other more established engines like Unity or Unreal.
  • Performance Limitations
    While PlayCanvas is optimized for web performance, it might not handle very large or complex games as well as some native engines.
  • Community and Support
    The user community and official support resources for PlayCanvas are smaller compared to larger engines like Unity or Unreal, potentially making it harder to find solutions to specific issues.

Open 3D Engine features and specs

  • Open Source
    Open 3D Engine is freely available under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing developers to access, modify, and distribute its source code without licensing fees.
  • High Customizability
    The engine's open-source nature and modular design enable extensive customization, making it possible for developers to tailor the engine to specific needs and workflows.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Open 3D Engine supports development for multiple platforms including Windows, Linux, and macOS, broadening the scope for developers targeting different audiences.
  • Robust Toolset
    The engine provides a comprehensive set of tools for 3D development, including a visual scripting environment and a powerful asset processing pipeline.
  • Active Community and Contributions
    An active and growing community contributes to the continuous improvement and updating of the engine, providing support and a wealth of shared resources.

Possible disadvantages of Open 3D Engine

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its complexity and extensive feature set, mastering Open 3D Engine can be challenging, especially for beginners.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running and developing with Open 3D Engine can require significant hardware resources, which may not be suitable for all developers or projects with limited capabilities.
  • Evolving Ecosystem
    As a relatively new entrant in the field, the ecosystem around Open 3D Engine is continuously evolving, which might lead to occasional instability or rapidly changing documentation.
  • Limited Third-Party Plugins
    Compared to more established engines, Open 3D Engine currently has fewer third-party plugins available, which could limit out-of-the-box functionality for some specialized needs.
  • Complex Project Setup
    Setting up projects and configuring the engine might be more complex compared to other engines, requiring more initial time investment to get started.

PlayCanvas videos

PlayCanvas Turns 1.0! Open Source 3D HTML5 Game Engine Is All Grown Up

More videos:

  • Tutorial - PlayCanvas Revisited -- Bowling With PlayCanvas Tutorial
  • Review - WebGL R&D: Unity vs Unreal vs PlayCanvas Comparison.

Open 3D Engine videos

Lumberyard Engine Open Sourced!! -- O3DE or "Open 3D Engine" is the new name

More videos:

  • Review - Welcome to OPEN 3D Engine (O3DE)
  • Review - Announcing Open 3D Engine (O3DE)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PlayCanvas and Open 3D Engine)
Game Development
76 76%
24% 24
Game Engine
72 72%
28% 28
3D Game Engine
73 73%
27% 27
Java
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare PlayCanvas and Open 3D Engine

PlayCanvas Reviews

Best Game Engines for Linux in 2021
PlayCanvas is an advanced WebGL game engine. With PlayCanvas, you can create interactive VR and 3D games. This game engine runs directly from the browser.
Source: kerneltips.com

Open 3D Engine Reviews

Best Unity alternatives for game development
Now, if you're looking for an engine that focuses on 3D, Open 3D Engine is a stellar choice (even if it is a bit finicky). You will notice that Open 3D Engine is essentially the successor to Amazon Lumberyard (however, Open 3D Engine is managed by the Linux Foundation). But this time, it is open-sourced and equipped with the Apache 2.0 license. Learning on this platform may...
What Are the Best Game Engines?
Lumberyard is a free, cross-platform engine. But recently, Amazon has taken its game engine and transformed it into an open-source model. Open3D is the latest from Amazon. It builds on top of Lumberyard and creates a more modular approach to game development.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, PlayCanvas should be more popular than Open 3D Engine. It has been mentiond 29 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.

PlayCanvas mentions (29)

  • Normal Map Interpolation on Deferred Shading
    For some reason that I cannot understand in my case the calculated shading normals are pixelated. Compared to playcanvas.com (probably a forward renderer), mine is like utter shit. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Migrating from WordPress After 12 Years
    PlayCanvas has been using WordPress for 12 years now. Generally speaking, it's been fine. However, after much consideration, we have migrated away to Jekyll + GitHub Pages. I thought our experience might be of interest to other WordPress users (if only to confirm why you wouldn't consider switching): Https://blog.playcanvas.com/moving-from-wordpress-to-jekyll-a-case-study/ Interested to hear peoples' thoughts... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • I made a 3D editor that models in pure CSS+HTML
    It's just a cool tech demo that pushes CSS to its limits, but it's completely useless if you want to create usable 3d models. If you want to model in the browser, you can check out vectary, playcanvas, or spline. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • I made a 3D editor that models in pure CSS+HTML
    The model in the video has no spheres, which is why the performance is decent. In any case, I agree with you for the most part, I'm just lazy and didn't expect anyone to actually want to use this for serious modelling. You should check out playcanvas or vectary if you are serious about in-browser 3D modelling. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Help With Web AR App Project Completion?
    Hey, I do not have any experience with deepar.ai so I’m not super familiar with the process using that platform. In my opinion I’d probably recommend another platform to try and accomplish this. Since you mentioned that you have everything set up in a engine already (lens studio) I’d recommend you just use a webxr engine. In my experience the two best engines are https://playcanvas.com and... Source: almost 2 years ago
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Open 3D Engine mentions (17)

  • Unreal Engine change its price for non-game apps
    O3DE[0] looks interesting - owned by the Linux Foundation, originally based on Amazon's Lumberyard, and it has some big players involved: Amazon, Epic Games(!), Microsoft, NVIDIA, Intel, Huawei, Red Hat, [0] https://o3de.org. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Alternative Game Engines for Marooned Unity Developers
    03DE: Open source game engine, under Apache License 2.0, developed by Amazon and the linux foundation. Seems to work under a modular package called "gems", that you can use to pull in the functionality you need. It uses c++ as it's main language, but you can use Lua, python or visual scripting for scripting stuff. Has multiplayer built into the engine and what they call a "robust" system for open-world games.... Source: over 1 year ago
  • Someone dropped the source code for Far Cry 1 on archive.org
    Note that Lumberyard became "Open 3D Engine" (yes, very inspired name) which is Apache 2 licensed: https://o3de.org/ https://github.com/o3de/o3de/ AFAIK all development in Lumberyard has ceased and moved to O3DE. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Did they take down the post about motion matching recently?
    Many pages in o3de.org are down. They are working on it. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Is SPIRV-Cross a valid option to target Metal from HSSL?
    I've worked on this a bit as part of the shader pipeline of Open3DEngine, From my experience there are very few compatibility issues between hlsl and sprir-v, sprir-v to msl however does run into a few issues.Here are the ones I remember. Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing PlayCanvas and Open 3D Engine, you can also consider the following products

Unity - The multiplatform game creation tools for everyone.

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

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

Blender - Blender is the open source, cross platform suite of tools for 3D creation.

Cyberix3D - Free online 3D Game Maker. Make your own 3D games online!

Amazon Lumberyard - Amazon Lumberyard is a free AAA game engine deeply integrated with AWS and Twitch – with full...