The best free 2D game engines, and what "free" means for each

Godot is open source under the MIT licence. Its licence page says you are free to use it for any purpose, and there are no royalties or fees.

It has a dedicated 2D engine, separate from its 3D one, which many 2D developers prefer. Its scripting language, GDScript, is designed for games and quick to learn.

It is also the engine under several AI game makers, which write GDScript for people who do not want to.

GDevelop is open source and uses a no-code event system instead of a programming language. It does 2D and 3D, and 2D is where it is strongest.

The free plan exports to the web and allows one desktop and one Android export a day. iOS export is not included for free. For most first games, the free plan is enough.

Defold describes itself as free forever: no up-front cost, no licence fee, no royalties. It is maintained by the Defold Foundation and is source available.

Unusually for a free engine, it lists PlayStation and Nintendo Switch among its targets alongside desktop, mobile and HTML5. It is popular for small, fast 2D games.

LÖVE is a framework for 2D games in Lua, under the zlib/libpng licence. It costs nothing and gives you a blank canvas and a programming language.

There is no editor. You write code and run it. Balatro was made with LÖVE, which shows how far one careful developer can take it.

GameMaker is a 2D engine that is free to download and keep for non-commercial use. Selling a game needs the Professional licence, a one-time $99.99.

That is a fair price, and it is a catch worth knowing before you start a game you hope to sell.

For no code: GDevelop. For code and no strings: Godot or LÖVE. For consoles later: Defold. For a well-trodden 2D path with a one-time fee to sell: GameMaker.

All five are good. Pick the one whose catch you can live with, and make something small in it before you decide anything else.