Lua Language

Open-source Lua projects categorized as Language
Lua DSL Compiler Neovim C

Top 5 Lua Language Projects

  1. moonscript

    :crescent_moon: A language that compiles to Lua

    Project mention: The Teal Programming Language | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-05-15

    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!

  2. InfluxDB

    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.

    InfluxDB logo
  3. nelua-lang

    Minimal, efficient, statically-typed and meta-programmable systems programming language heavily inspired by Lua, which compiles to C and native code.

    Project mention: The Teal Programming Language | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-05-15
  4. language-lua

    Lua parser and pretty-printer

  5. nutoad

    a compliant brainfuck interpreter with subroutines

  6. Crino

    Crino is an open-source multilingual DSL and library in pure lua.

  7. SaaSHub

    SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives

    SaaSHub logo
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

Log in or Post with

Lua Language related posts

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

Sponsored
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.
www.influxdata.com

Did you know that Lua is
the 18th most popular programming language
based on number of references?