LDtk vs Tiled
LDtk
ldtk.ioTiled
mapeditor.orgSide by side
| Figure | LDtk | Tiled |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · Game Level Editors | 8.7 (#2) | 7.4 (#18) |
| Integrations | The maker lists community importers and loaders for engines including Unity, MonoGame, Godot, Playdate, GameMaker Studio, Löve 2D, and Bevy. | The documentation lists libraries and game frameworks that can read or render TMX and JSON maps. |
| Maker | LDtk was developed by Sébastien Benard, aka deepnight, who founded the one-person studio Deepnight Games. | The product site credits Thorbjørn Lindeijer and other contributors. |
| Support | The site links to an official Discord community and documentation. | Tiled development supporters receive regular development updates, a special Discord role, and priority support. |
| What it does | LDtk is a desktop 2D level editor designed for game developers, with a focus on platformer and top-down projects. | Tiled is a 2D level editor for developing game content, primarily tile maps, with support for free image placement and annotations. |
Plans
In their own words
LDtk
LDtk is a free, open-source 2D level editor for game developers, available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It supports Grid-vania, linear, and free-world layouts, with levels rearranged by drag and drop. Its visual auto-layering editor lets users define rules for tile skinning, while custom entities can hold typed properties such as hit points, patrol paths, or inventories. LDtk exports PNGs and JSON entity data, with optional Tiled TMX export. It can load Aseprite files directly and reload them when saved. The editor focuses on platformer and top-down perspectives, rather than isometric 3D. Backups can restore unsaved changes after an application crash. The maker lists community importers and loaders for engines including Unity, MonoGame, Godot, Playdate, GameMaker Studio, Löve 2D, and Bevy. LDtk has no usage limitations stated, and content created with it may be used commercially. Documentation and an official Discord community are linked from its site.
Tiled
Tiled is a free 2D level editor for game content, especially tile maps, with support for free image placement and annotations. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Map layers support rectangular, isometric, staggered isometric, staggered hexagonal and oblique projections. Tile-layer tools include a stamp brush, line and circle drawing, selection, automatic terrain transitions and pattern matching. Object layers can hold rectangles, points, ellipses, polygons, polylines and tile objects that can be scaled or rotated. The editor also includes tile animation and collision editing. Its TMX map format supports multiple tilesets per map, and the documentation lists libraries and game frameworks that can read or render TMX and JSON maps. Plugins can add map or tileset formats, and JavaScript can extend the editor. The maker describes Tiled as free software that users may use, modify and redistribute under the same terms. Listed 64-bit downloads require Windows 10, macOS 13 or Ubuntu 22.04 or an equivalent distribution. The manual says much of it still needs to be written.