Open-Source Vulkan C++ API VS GLFW

Compare Open-Source Vulkan C++ API vs GLFW and see what are their differences.

Open-Source Vulkan C++ API

Open-Source Vulkan C++ API (by KhronosGroup)

GLFW

A multi-platform library for OpenGL, OpenGL ES, Vulkan, window and input (by glfw)
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Open-Source Vulkan C++ API GLFW
36 78
2,888 12,091
1.6% 3.2%
9.1 9.3
7 days ago 2 days ago
C++ C
Apache License 2.0 zlib License
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.

Open-Source Vulkan C++ API

Posts with mentions or reviews of Open-Source Vulkan C++ API. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-07-05.

GLFW

Posts with mentions or reviews of GLFW. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2024-03-16.
  • macOS 14.4 causes JVM crashes
    2 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 16 Mar 2024
    Minecraft runs on various Javas.

    And there's a known issue with an interaction between minecraft, Java, and the video drivers that crashes out and it can be traced back all the way to here: https://github.com/glfw/glfw/issues/1997

    It's not fixed.

  • Technical Considerations for GUI Toolkits [Discussion]
    2 projects | /r/learnprogramming | 11 Dec 2023
    Types of tools for creating a gui (and how those tools approximately work): 1. Utilize the native _graphical interface API_, and depending on the platform, they have specific layers to interface: * Wayland, X11, for Linux * [GDI](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/gdi/windows-gdi) for windows * [Quartz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartz\_(graphics\_layer)) for macOS Example - GTK uses [wayland](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/blob/main/docs/reference/gdk/wayland.md) ([source code](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/tree/main/gdk/win32)) [X11](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/blob/main/docs/reference/gdk/x11.md) ([source code](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/tree/main/gdk/x11)) GDI ([source code](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/tree/main/gdk/win32)) Quartz ([source code](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/tree/main/gdk/macos)) [How to use wayland display server](https://bugaevc.gitbooks.io/writing-wayland-clients/content/black-square/the-wayland-client-library.html) (TODO missing "animation" section) 2. Utilize opengl _or other low level graphics api's_ with window context, use GPU to render widgets * Window context manager - [glfw](https://github.com/glfw/glfw), [sdl](https://www.libsdl.org/) * contexts and surfaces, reading input, handling events Example: ImGui, NanoVG, Nuklear, raylib Why? Mainly used for game development, but also good for gui's. _(i haven't seen any examples that uses this method that are used for developing general-use graphical user interfaces.)_
  • Exploring Computer Graphics: Weekly Chronicle #1
    5 projects | dev.to | 16 Oct 2023
    GLFW: A library for window creation and managing user input.
  • New Vulkan Documentation Website
    10 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 11 Oct 2023
    Not SDL2, but GLFW has something like that under the tests/ directory:

    https://github.com/glfw/glfw/blob/master/tests/triangle-vulk...

  • LWJGL = SFML vs Allegro vs SDL vs Ogre vs ???
    2 projects | /r/opengl | 5 Jul 2023
    I'm not familiar with LWJGL, my 5 seconds on their website makes me think you might be looking for something like GLFW https://www.glfw.org/ to handle I/O and window creation/management.
  • I have spent two whole work days trying to install GLEW
    6 projects | /r/GraphicsProgramming | 3 Jul 2023
    Consider GLFW3 for windowing and GLAD for function loading. I've used this combination myself successfully. Granted, that is "two things" you need, but OTOH it'll work well.
  • OpenGL (GLFW and GLAD) not linking with cmake
    2 projects | /r/cmake | 30 May 2023
    There is a pattern to it which is usable with every GitHub repository. For example, GLFW v3.3.8 can be fetched from: https://github.com/glfw/glfw/archive/refs/tags/3.3.8.tar.gz
    2 projects | /r/cmake | 30 May 2023
    What exactly would I fetch with this method? He's fetching a raylib url, but I don't really see a pattern in it I can follow when fetching glfw. I assume I can use this repository? https://github.com/glfw/glfw
  • Curseforge Minecraft running on M2?
    2 projects | /r/macgaming | 1 Apr 2023
    I'm not sure how to fix it, sorry. I searched for some of the messages and found this bug: . I think overriding the LWJGL library might fix the issue, but I don't see any way to do that with the CurseForge launcher.
  • GLFW has merged proper support for client-side window decorations on Wayland!
    4 projects | /r/linux | 28 Mar 2023

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Open-Source Vulkan C++ API and GLFW you can also consider the following projects:

SDL - Simple Directmedia Layer

bgfx - Cross-platform, graphics API agnostic, "Bring Your Own Engine/Framework" style rendering library.

glad - Multi-Language Vulkan/GL/GLES/EGL/GLX/WGL Loader-Generator based on the official specs.

Skia - Skia is a complete 2D graphic library for drawing Text, Geometries, and Images.

OpenSceneGraph - OpenSceneGraph git repository

Ogre 3D - scene-oriented, flexible 3D engine (C++, Python, C#, Java)

raylib - A simple and easy-to-use library to enjoy videogames programming

SFML - Simple and Fast Multimedia Library

imgui - Dear ImGui: Bloat-free Graphical User interface for C++ with minimal dependencies

gl4es - GL4ES is a OpenGL 2.1/1.5 to GL ES 2.0/1.1 translation library, with support for Pandora, ODroid, OrangePI, CHIP, Raspberry PI, Android, Emscripten and AmigaOS4.