DiligentEngine
A modern cross-platform low-level graphics library and rendering framework
The Lens
Diligent Engine is a cross-platform graphics abstraction layer. Write code once and run it against Direct3D 12, Vulkan, Metal, and WebGPU on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and the browser. Shaders stay in HLSL and the engine translates them to MSL, GLSL, or SPIR-V per backend. This is infrastructure for graphics programmers, not a game engine.
If you are writing a CAD tool, simulation, scientific visualization, or any real-time 3D application that has to run everywhere, you either use this, bgfx, or sokol, or you write platform-specific code for each backend. Diligent is more featured than sokol and more modern than bgfx.
Solo and small teams: use it freely under Apache 2.0. Metal support on macOS, iOS, and tvOS requires a commercial license from DiligentGraphics. Vulkan via MoltenVK stays free. Contact them for pricing on the Apple backends since it is not published.
The catch: low-level graphics is hard. Diligent abstracts the API surface but you still need to understand descriptor sets, command buffers, and pipeline state. This does not replace Unity or Unreal. It is what you reach for when those are too opinionated for what you are building.
Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid
open coreFree (Apache 2.0): Windows, Linux, Android, and web via WebGPU and GLES. Full graphics API abstraction, all sample code, all documentation, no usage limits. MacOS and iOS with Vulkan via MoltenVK are also free.
Commercial license required: Native Metal support on macOS, iOS, and tvOS. DiligentGraphics sells this per engagement and does not publish pricing, which means it is negotiated. Expect it to cost real money if you are shipping a commercial product on Apple platforms.
For open source work or non-Apple platforms, Apache 2.0 covers you entirely. For a shipping commercial game or application targeting Apple natively, you need to have the license conversation.
Apache 2.0 for most platforms. Commercial license required for native Metal on Apple.
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License: Apache License 2.0
Use freely. Patent grant included.
Commercial use: ✓ Yes
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