GridCraft vs DarkRadiant

GridCraft9.4Visit DarkRadiant8.4Visit

Higher score GridCraft #1 in Game Level Editors 9.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 3 of 5 features Visit GridCraft

vs

DarkRadiant #8 in Game Level Editors 8.4/10 Open source Free plan✓ 2 of 5 features Visit DarkRadiant

• GridCraft fits best

  Collaborative teams editing 2D maps

• DarkRadiant fits best

  The Dark Mod and idTech4 level editing

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Side by side

Feature	GridCraft 9.4/10 Visit ↗	DarkRadiant 8.4/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	8.4
Ranking	#1 in Game Level Editors	#8 in Game Level Editors
Best for	Collaborative teams editing 2D maps	The Dark Mod and idTech4 level editing
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Free
Starting price	—	Open source
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Desktop	Desktop
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux
Support	Email, Community, Docs	Community, Docs
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market	Solo, Small business
Features GridCraft 3/5 · DarkRadiant 2/5
Tilemap tools	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Terrain tools	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Entity placement	✓	✓
Prefab or template tools	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Visual scripting	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Level dimensions	2d	3d
Our review
Pros	Real-time collaboration for shared map editing Exports to Godot, GameMaker, Defold, LDtk, and more GitHub, GitLab, and MCP support in the desktop app	Combines 3D camera and dockable 2D orthographic views Supports brushes, patches, entities, shaders and reusable prefabs Runs on Windows, macOS and Linux under GPLv2
Cons	Paid access starts at 19.99 Offline work and local file access require the desktop app Studio collaboration is reserved for the Team plan	Its supported game focus is narrower than general-purpose editors Requires resources from a supported game to work with Does not include AI features
Our verdict	GridCraft is a 2D tile-map editor for game developers who need to create, organize, and share maps across browser and desktop workflows. It supports tile layers, stacked layers, terrain brushes using Wang sets, object layers, custom… Read the review →	DarkRadiant is a desktop level and map editor for The Dark Mod and other idTech4-based games, including Doom 3, Quake 4 and Prey. It is designed for constructing 3D game environments from brushes and patches, placing and editing entities,… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• GridCraft — where it wins

  • Real-time collaboration for shared map editing
  • Exports to Godot, GameMaker, Defold, LDtk, and more
  • GitHub, GitLab, and MCP support in the desktop app

  Where it doesn't

  • Paid access starts at 19.99
  • Offline work and local file access require the desktop app
  • Studio collaboration is reserved for the Team plan

• DarkRadiant — where it wins

  • Combines 3D camera and dockable 2D orthographic views
  • Supports brushes, patches, entities, shaders and reusable prefabs
  • Runs on Windows, macOS and Linux under GPLv2

  Where it doesn't

  • Its supported game focus is narrower than general-purpose editors
  • Requires resources from a supported game to work with
  • Does not include AI features

• GridCraft9.4/10 · Free plan

  A capable collaborative map editor with broad exports, but paid plans start at 19.99.

  Visit GridCraftFull verdict →
• DarkRadiant8.4/10 · Open source

  A free editor for building 3D maps in The Dark Mod and idTech4 games.

  Visit DarkRadiantFull verdict →