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Top 5 Lua Language Projects
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I've been diving into Lua and it's really something of an eye-opener.
LuaJITted Lua code runs at 80% (on average, sometimes faster!) of the compiled C version of the same algorithm, typically. Lua is embedded in a surprisingly massive number of products: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_applications_using_Lua
The only warts so far are 1-based indexing (you get used to it), and the fact that LuaJIT is stuck at Lua 5.1 while Lua itself is up to 5.3 or 5.4 and has added some niceties... with Lua proper running slower.
Anyway, there's nothing else like it out there. Especially with its relative simplicity.
There are also some neat languages that compile to (transpile to?) Lua, and deserve more attention, such as YueScript https://yuescript.org/, which is a still actively-updated enhanced dialect of MoonScript https://moonscript.org/ (described as "Coffeescript for Lua", although it hasn't been updated in 10 years) although neither of these are typed. HOWEVER... there IS this: TypescriptToLua https://typescripttolua.github.io/, which takes advantage of ALL the existing TypeScript tooling, it just outputs Lua instead of JS!
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InfluxDB – Built for High-Performance Time Series Workloads. InfluxDB 3 OSS is now GA. Transform, enrich, and act on time series data directly in the database. Automate critical tasks and eliminate the need to move data externally. Download now.
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nelua-lang
Minimal, efficient, statically-typed and meta-programmable systems programming language heavily inspired by Lua, which compiles to C and native code.
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SaaSHub
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NOTE:
The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars.
The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or
since we started tracking (Dec 2020).
Lua Language discussion
Lua Language related posts
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MoonBit compiler is available on GitHub
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Nelua Programming Language
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Lapis: A Web Framework for Lua
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MoonScript A programmer friendly language that compiles to Lua
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Nelua: Statically typed language with a Lua flavor
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Buzz: A lightweight statically typed scripting language
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Lua has been a real eye opener for this Java dev
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A note from our sponsor - InfluxDB
www.influxdata.com | 24 Jun 2025
Index
What are some of the best open-source Language projects in Lua? This list will help you:
| # | Project | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | moonscript | 3,322 |
| 2 | nelua-lang | 2,233 |
| 3 | language-lua | 15 |
| 4 | nutoad | 1 |
| 5 | Crino | 0 |
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InfluxDB 3 OSS is now GA. Transform, enrich, and act on time series data directly in the database. Automate critical tasks and eliminate the need to move data externally. Download now.
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