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Comparison

GameMaker vs Unreal Engine

	GameMaker	Unreal Engine
What it says it does	GameMakerMake a game with GameMaker, the best free video game engine. Perfect for beginners and professionals. Learn to build your own 2D indie games with our simple tutorials.	Unreal EngineUnreal Engine is Epic Games' real-time 3D engine for building multi-platform games, with full source code access, Blueprints visual scripting and C++.
Pricing	GameMakerFree for non-commercial use (all desktop, web, mobile and GX.games exports, no watermark); Professional $99.99 one-time commercial licence; Enterprise subscription (monthly or yearly) adds console exports and source code access (official)	Unreal EngineFree for game developers, individuals and small businesses (under $1M annual gross revenue) and educators, with full source access; games pay a 5% royalty only on lifetime gross product revenue above $1M (Epic Games Store revenue is royalty-exempt); non-game companies over $1M annual revenue need seats at $1,850 per seat per year (official)
Website	GameMakerhttps://gamemaker.io/en	Unreal Enginehttps://www.unrealengine.com/

Which tool for which job

GameMaker wins when you want a proven 2D engine with a one-time commercial licence and no royalties.

Unreal Engine wins when your game is 3D and visual fidelity matters more than a light editor.

Descriptions in the table come from each vendor's own site. This verdict is a fit call from those official pages as of 4 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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