Godot is growing faster. GameMaker is holding steady.

At the GMTK Game Jam 2025 , the largest jam on itch.io with 9,724 entries, Godot held 39% share and GameMaker held 5%. Four years earlier, Godot was at 13% and GameMaker was at 7%. Godot tripled; GameMaker stayed flat.

On Steam, both engines have small but meaningful market share. GameDiscoverCo data  shows Godot at about 5% and GameMaker at about 4% of games released in 2024. Unity leads at 51%. At the February 2026 Steam Next Fest , Godot demos accounted for 9% of entries, up from nearly zero a few years ago.

The community numbers tell a similar story. Godot’s subreddit  has ~307,000 members; r/gamemaker  has ~94,000. Godot’s GitHub repository  has 108,000+ stars and receives contributions from 500+ developers per release cycle. GameMaker is closed source.

None of this means GameMaker is dying. It means Godot is absorbing new developers faster, largely at the expense of Unity, while GameMaker retains a stable base of experienced 2D developers who already know GML.

Commercial licenses and console exports

Godot is MIT-licensed, with no engine subscription, per-seat fee or revenue share. You still need to comply with its license notice requirements and the licenses of any third-party code or assets you ship.

https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/about/complying_with_licenses.html 

GameMaker’s licensing guide lists these US-dollar prices; local equivalents may differ:

https://gamemaker.io/en/help/articles/how-to-upgrade-your-gamemaker-licence 

Twelve monthly Enterprise payments total $959.88. That is not the price of the yearly plan. GameMaker’s export options also depend on the external SDKs and tools required by each target platform.

Godot’s console route is separate from the engine license. The Godot Foundation does not maintain official console ports. Approved developers can build their own export templates or use third-party middleware and porting services. W4 Games is one option, not the only route. Platform approval and access to official SDKs are still required.

https://godotengine.org/consoles/ 

For a console project, compare the actual porting route and support you need, not just the engine’s license price.

GameMaker is built for 2D. Godot treats 2D as a first-class citizen.

Both engines are strong at 2D. The difference is philosophical.

GameMaker was designed from the ground up as a 2D engine. It has a built-in sprite editor , room-based level design, and 25 years of 2D-specific tooling. GameMaker’s own blog makes the case directly : “If you’re making a 2D game, there’s no engine on the market more finely-tuned to the needs of 2D game developers.”

Godot has a dedicated 2D renderer separate from its 3D pipeline. Pixel-perfect rendering, 2D physics, and tilemaps ship out of the box. Godot also has an integrated 3D workflow. GameMaker is 2D-focused, but it can render 3D using features such as vertex buffers, matrices and cameras. The difference is the tooling you get, not whether 3D is possible at all. If 3D matters to your project, try that part of the workflow before committing.

https://manual.gamemaker.io/monthly/en/Additional_Information/Obsolete_Functions.htm 

Thomas Gervraud (Blobfish) made three commercial games in GameMaker before switching to Godot for Brotato. He wrote: “I owe a lot to that engine. It helped me get started with gamedev and make a living from it.”  Brotato went on to sell 10 million copies .

GDScript is Python-like. GML is C-like.

GDScript uses Python-style indentation and is tightly integrated with Godot’s node system. GML uses C-style braces and semicolons, with a function library that mirrors GameMaker’s room/object model.

The practical difference: GDScript benefits from Godot’s scene system, where each node is a reusable class. GML benefits from GameMaker’s event system, where behavior is driven by step events, draw events, and collision events. Try the same small mechanic in both and see which model makes more sense to you.

Mike Klubnika, developer of Buckshot Roulette  (8 million copies sold), switched from Unity to Godot and described the experience as having “not a lot of friction in experimenting or tweaking small things.” 

For Godot-specific AI coding assistance, tools like Ziva  can generate GDScript directly in the editor, which speeds up the learning curve for developers coming from other languages.

Both engines have proven commercial hits

GameMaker’s track record in 2D is deep. Katana ZERO grossed ~$32M . Hyper Light Drifter earned ~$14M . Undertale sold 5-10 million copies across platforms . Hotline Miami, Nuclear Throne, Chicory, Forager: the list of commercially successful GameMaker games stretches back over a decade.

Godot’s hit list is newer but growing fast. Brotato sold 10M+ copies . Buckshot Roulette hit 8 million sales . Dome Keeper earned ~$6.1M . Backpack Battles sold 640K units in its first month . Godot also has an integrated 3D workflow; GameMaker provides lower-level 3D rendering features rather than the same kind of editor workflow.

The takeaway: your engine choice will not limit your commercial potential. Both have shipped games that earned millions with small teams.

The decision tree

Pick Godot if:

• You want an MIT-licensed engine with no engine license fee or royalties
• Your project might include 3D, or your next one might
• You want to read or modify engine source code (Halls of Torment developer Chasing Carrots  used C++ via source access for performance-critical paths)
• You are on Linux (Godot runs natively; GameMaker’s Linux support has been inconsistent)
• You value a large, fast-growing community for support

Pick GameMaker if:

• You prefer GameMaker’s sprite editor and room/object workflow for your 2D prototype
• You want GameMaker’s console export route and have checked the Enterprise plan, platform approval and SDK requirements
• You already know GML and have existing GameMaker projects
• You want a built-in sprite editor and room-based level design without plugins

Either engine works well if:

• You are making a 2D game for PC and mobile
• You are a solo developer or small team
• You want to publish on Steam
• You care about how your game will earn revenue

If you are starting fresh, make a small prototype and check how you will export it before choosing. Godot’s MIT license removes the engine fee, not every production cost. If GameMaker’s room/object model clicks for you, weigh that against the commercial license and export route your game needs.