# Box2D

12 Hacker News commenters recommended Box2D and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source 2D physics engine that people recommend for games, praised for its clean, readable code and useful results.

## Why people recommend it

- Useful free open source library (3 comments): "it's well and truly one of the top bits of F/OSS out there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48749380)) "Thanks to Erin for such a useful piece of software!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48751731)) "Thank you Erin for the great libraries!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48751555))
- Good 2D physics for games (4 comments): "Box2D was a foundation for a lot of interesting physics oriented indie games in my day." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48747722)) "Box2D is still pretty darn good! Definitely recommended for 2D physics game projects." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48748540)) "It worked well, even sniper rifles worked well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48779444))
- Clean, instructive source code (2 comments): "Box2D has some of the best code I've ever read." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48749909)) "I learnt a lot tinkering with it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48748525))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Box3D](https://hackerapproved.com/p/box3d.md): 14 recommend
- [MuJoCo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mujoco.md): 10 recommend
- [Jolt Physics](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jolt-physics.md): 9 recommend
- [Rapier physics engine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rapier.md): 6 recommend
- [BepuPhysics 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bepu-physics.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Box2D", https://hackerapproved.com/p/box2d/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).