Unity vs. Unreal: What’s the Difference?

Unity and Unreal Engine are two of the most popular game engines widely used to develop video games [1], from indie games like Citizen Sleeper to big-name studio hits like Fortnite or Gears of War. Both options offer a wide range of features to help you create video games, from the platform infrastructure and development environment you need to build your game to options for advanced audio and visual capabilities. 

Considering factors like features, cost, the compatibility between the game engine and other technology, and ease of use can help you decide which game engine is right for your project. While Unity and Unreal Engine are not the only game engines you can choose from, they are two prominent industry leaders. Explore a point-by-point analysis of Unity versus Unreal Engine to help select the option best suited to your next game development project. 

Unity vs. Unreal Engine

You can use Unity and Unreal Engine to solve similar types of problems. Both game engines provide you with features like tools to create 3D game visuals, architecture to package your game for different platforms like mobile, desktop, and console, and virtual and mixed reality gaming support. The differences between the products include how developers use them, how their features compare to one another, costs, and more. Another big difference between Unity and Unreal Engine is that the Unity editor uses the C# programming language, and the Unreal Engine editor uses a combination of C++ and Blueprint. 

One way to highlight the difference between Unity and Unreal is to look at their popularity among developers. In the 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, 5.9 percent of the survey respondents reported using Unity over the past year, compared to 3 percent who reported using Unreal Engine [2]. When considering only the survey respondents working as professional developers (compared to developers still learning to code, for example), 4.6 percent reported using Unity, and 2.5 percent reported using Unreal Engine. Interestingly, 53.9 percent of developers who answered the survey reported that they wanted to use Unreal Engine more in the coming year, compared to 46 percent who reported wanting to use Unity in the coming year [2]. 

The survey results seem in line with 6sense's reporting that Unity has a 25.13 percent market share of game development, while Unreal Engine holds a 14.99 percent market share. This translates into 8,351 Unity customers and 4,983 Unreal Engine customers, respectively [3]. 

What is Unity?

Unity is a versatile and user-friendly game engine that offers many different features, including the tools you need to create different types of games—two-dimensional (2D), three-dimensional (3D), and virtual and mixed reality for various types of platforms, including mobile, console, or PC. You can use Unity to create animations, sounds, user interfaces, cut scenes, videos, and more. 

Unity also offers a range of services to help you add functionality to your game. For example, you can use Vivox to build text and voice chat options so your players can communicate with one another. You can also use Unity Cloud to host your content in one accessible place to increase your ability to collaborate with your team. In addition to the resources you can find directly through Unity, you can also find add-ons, such as CAD optimizers for 3D visuals and an extensive asset library, through Unity’s Tools marketplace for even more functionality.

What is Unity used for?

Although Unity may be popular as a platform for creating different types of video games, you can also use its tools to run the business side of your game, including tools that can help you monetize and grow your audience. Unity has use cases in training, customer service, 3D and virtual reality collaborations, education, and research, in addition to immersive and visually compelling games. Unity’s suite of tools can also aid you in developing 3D experiences relevant for industries like transportation, engineering, architecture, construction, energy, education, retail, health care, and more. 

What is Unreal Engine? 

Unreal Engine is known for its powerful visual effects and high-end graphics. It features tools for building robust virtual worlds, creating characters and animations using machine learning for more realistic and physics-driven effects, and creating interactive content and AI characters with spatial awareness. Unreal Engine offers support for many different types of games, such as multiplayer, mixed and virtual reality, and multiplatform games for consoles like PlayStation 5, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch. You can also find support for deploying your game on a cloud architecture. Unreal Engine can also integrate with many popular pipelines for creating content, including FBX, USD, and Alembic. 

What is Unreal Engine used for?

Developers from both industry-leading video game companies and independent or small teams can use Unreal Engine to create video games. Unreal Engine also supports use cases for creating visually engaging or immersive content, VR environments, animations for film and television, or graphics for live events like sports or concerts. 

You can also integrate your CAD files with Unreal Engine to create 3D representations and renderings of your work. This makes Unreal Engine applicable to industries like product design, architecture, and manufacturing. For example, you could create a true-to-life rendering of a design for a new car or create simulations of how the vehicle would perform in different conditions. Once you’ve built your car, you can use that digital asset as a 3D model for customers to explore virtually on your website. 

Does NASA use Unreal Engine?

NASA used Unreal Engine to create a digital replica of the International Space Station (ISS) to train astronauts on the modules and processes within the ISS. The agency also uses Unreal Engine for lunar simulations to help design new vehicles that can traverse the surface of the moon and familiarize astronauts with the lunar environment. 

Unreal vs. Unity: Comparing the two

Either game engine can provide you with a variety of tools to create beautiful and immersive experiences. Deciding on the ideal option for your project requires considering factors like the features your project will need, the program’s ease of use and how it matches your level of experience, and the cost to use the program. Explore these factors point by point. 

Features

Both game engines offer a wide range of features, but Unity’s offerings sometimes offer more flexibility than the high-powered features of Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine can deliver incredible graphics that Unity would struggle to replicate, but the file sizes you create in the program may be larger on average than those produced in Unity, which can increase load times. 

Unreal Engine has an impressive set of tools that can help you build realistic graphics, animations, and simulations, but the scale of its features can also make the Unreal Engine platform resource-heavy compared to Unity, which can run on a lighter machine. While Unity may not offer as high-powered graphics as Unreal Engine, the program does provide flexible tools you can use for cross-platform games. 

Ease of use and support

Both Unity and Unreal Engine offer online support and documentation to help you learn how to use the program and work with their range of features. But Unity is generally considered the more user-friendly option because Unreal Engine’s impressive features can be more challenging to learn, and because Unity has a robust community of users and support available online that can help beginners start creating 3D and virtual experiences. 

Cost

Unity and Unreal Engine use different pricing strategies to charge for their products. Both offer free options for users to explore as they begin using their features. However, Unity offers subscription plans based on tiers of use, and Unreal Engine offers pricing plans based on either royalty-based or seat-based pricing. 

Unity pricing

Unity offers free plans for students and educators to create visualizations and learn to use Unity products, as well as a free personal plan for individuals that includes basic access to the Unity Engine. The Pro subscription, starting at $2,200 annually, allows you to publish games on game consoles and offers access to more features, such as building 3D apps for Apple Vision Pro and applying Havoc Physics for your animations and simulations [4]. 

The Enterprise tier allows you to avail more advanced features, such as directly accessing the source code and advanced customer support. Pricing for Enterprise subscribers is customized to your company’s needs. Unity also offers an Industry tier with access to additional features specific to your industry (for creating applications for industry use that do not relate to video games or entertainment). This tier starts at $4,950 annually [4].

Unreal Engine pricing

Unreal Engine uses a comparatively more straightforward pricing strategy, where it allows free access to all users who create products that will contribute less than $1 million in revenue over the lifetime of the product. This includes individuals like students or educators who will not monetize their products, as well as small companies or game developers who have under $1 million in product sales or gross revenue. After hitting $1 million in gross revenue or product sales, Unreal Engine will transition you into a seat-based or royalty-based subscription model. 

Whether you use seat-based or royalty-based pricing depends on how you use Unreal Engine: specifically, whether or not your product uses the Unreal Engine runtime code. A game or other application that uses the runtime code will use a subscription-based pricing model and pay a 5 percent royalty for all the lifetime revenue of the product after the initial $1 million. For companies or organizations using Unreal Engine for purposes other than creating apps that use engine code at runtime, the seat-based model allows access to the Unreal Engine license for $1,850 annually per seat [5].

Explore game development on Coursera

Unity and Unreal Engine are powerful game engines that can help you create incredible games, educational experiences, and other visualizations. The suitable program for you will depend on factors like which pricing model is more attractive to your business and the features your product will need. Continue learning about game development by exploring programs on Coursera, like the IBM Full Stack Software Developer Professional Certificate or the Microsoft Full-Stack Developer Professional Certificate, to help build the skills you need to begin. 

In the IBM Full Stack Software Developer Professional Certificate, you have the chance to learn how to develop with front-end development languages and tools such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, and Bootstrap, as well as explore how to program applications using back-end languages and frameworks like Express, Node.js, Python, and Django. 

In the Microsoft Full-Stack Developer Professional Certificate, you will have opportunities to apply object-oriented programming (OOP) principles to design modular, scalable solutions in C#, demonstrated through real-world coding projects.