Defold review

Defold earns its place with small builds and firm pricing terms. The Defold Foundation states that the engine will always remain completely free and will never move to a subscription, royalties or license fees. Its own size test puts an empty Android build at 2.56 MB and an HTML5 build at 0.83 MB, which matters for web portals and mobile games where download size affects installs. Logic is written in Lua with an integrated editor, debugger and hot reload, and the same APIs work across desktop, mobile, web and consoles. Native extensions add features such as Nakama, PlayFab and Photon backends, and Cloud Builds remove the need to set up toolchains. The trade-offs are a Lua-only workflow, a smaller community and asset library than the bigger engines, and a toolset aimed more at 2D and light 3D than at high-end visuals.

Who it is for

Mobile and web developers who want tiny builds and an engine that will never charge fees or royalties.

Price

Free; the Defold Foundation states it will never charge subscriptions, royalties or license fees.

Defold is, and will always remain, completely free to use.
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 9, 2026.

Key features

• Game logic in Lua, with optional typed Lua through Teal
• Integrated code editor, debugger, hot reload and fast builds
• One-click deployment to desktop, mobile, web and consoles from the same project
• Native extensions and an App Manifest to add or strip engine features
• Cloud Builds with no setup, plus support for your own build pipeline

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Very small builds: the vendor measures an empty Android build at 2.56 MB
• Strength: Free with a written promise of no subscriptions or royalties
• Strength: Same APIs across platforms, including purchasing and input
• Weakness: Lua scripting only, with no C# or visual scripting
• Weakness: Smaller asset ecosystem than Unity or Godot
• Weakness: Better suited to 2D than to high-end 3D

Key facts

• Price: Free
• Language: Lua, optional Teal
• Empty Android build: 2.56 MB (vendor test, Defold 1.13.0)
• Empty HTML5 build: 0.83 MB (vendor test)
• Steward: Defold Foundation

Where it ranks

Defold is No. 5 in our Best Game Engines verdict.