Comparison
Defold vs Photon Engine
| Defold | Photon Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| What it says it does | DefoldDefold is a free, cross-platform game engine for building 2D and 3D games on desktop, web, mobile, and consoles with one streamlined workflow. | Photon EngineBuild and scale real-time multiplayer games with Photon Fusion, Quantum, Realtime, Voice and Chat. Trusted by thousands of studios. Start free. |
| Pricing | DefoldFree: no fees or royalties; source code available under the Defold license (official) | Photon EngineFusion: free 20 CCU for development; free 100 CCU for one launched app; 100 CCU $95 one-time for 12 months; 500 CCU $125/mo; 1,000 CCU $250/mo; 2,000 CCU $500/mo; Premium $0.50 per CCU ($1,000/mo minimum); extra traffic $0.05-$0.10/GB (official) |
| Website | Defoldhttps://defold.com/ | Photon Enginehttps://www.photonengine.com/ |
Which tool for which job
Defold wins when you want tiny, fast builds and a free engine without royalties.
Photon Engine wins when you want managed multiplayer networking with a free tier to prototype and launch small.
Descriptions in the table come from each vendor's own site. This verdict is a fit call from those official pages as of 5 November 2026, not a shared benchmark or a hands-on score. Prices change, so confirm the pricing row on each tool page. How we review tools.
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