Luanti
An infinite voxel sandbox — and an engine for a thousand games.
The PlayBound Bar
Luanti clears all five: free with no monetisation, a mature and stable engine, actively developed, genuinely excellent as a platform, and open-source so it cannot be taken away.
Genuinely free
No trial, no paywalled campaign, no pay-to-win, no cosmetic treadmill. Free means free, forever.
Finished enough to enjoy
Playable and satisfying start to finish today — not a promising alpha you should check back on.
Actively maintained
A release or meaningful commit within the last twelve months. Someone is still looking after it.
Stands on its own merits
Good enough that we would recommend it even if it cost money. Free is not the reason it is here.
Won't disappear
Open-source or self-hostable, so no shutdown, delisting or licence expiry can take it away from you.
Luanti last verified against the bar on . Read the full standard →
About Luanti
The most common question about Luanti is whether it is a Minecraft clone, and the answer is no — it is something structurally different, which is both its greatest strength and the reason some people bounce off it in the first ten minutes.
Luanti, formerly Minetest, is a free and open-source voxel game engine. Out of the box it gives you a sparse sandbox that is not trying to be a finished game. What makes it worth your time is the built-in content browser: hundreds of complete game modes, downloadable inside the client, ranging from faithful survival-crafting experiences to industrial automation, to guns-and-vehicles overhauls, to things with no Minecraft equivalent at all. Install one first. Judging Luanti by its default world is like judging a games console by the menu screen.
On technical merits it beats Minecraft in several specific places. It installs in about 150 MB against Minecraft's gigabyte-plus. It runs comfortably on hardware Minecraft cannot touch, including Raspberry Pi and decade-old laptops. World size is effectively unlimited with a far greater vertical range. Modding is first-class Lua with in-game installation, rather than Java and a third-party toolchain. Self-hosted multiplayer requires no account and no realm subscription.
What it does not beat Minecraft on is polish and coherent design. Mojang's game is a single curated experience with two decades of art direction and content tuning behind it. Luanti's game modes are community-made and quality varies considerably. If you want to be handed something finished, that gap matters.
The compensating advantage is permanence. Luanti is open-source, self-hostable and cannot be discontinued, delisted or moved behind an account system by a corporate decision.
Why we picked it
Luanti is the only voxel game we would call future-proof. Nobody can switch it off, price it, or force it through an account migration. Add that it runs on hardware nothing else will touch and installs in 150 MB, and it becomes the obvious recommendation for anyone who wants to build things without depending on a company's continued goodwill.
Who it's for
Great if you want
- Low-end hardware, old laptops and Raspberry Pi
- Anyone who wants a voxel game that cannot be shut down or repriced
- Modders — Lua scripting with an in-game content browser
- Self-hosted multiplayer with no accounts or subscriptions
- Players who enjoy configuring their own experience
Look elsewhere if
- You want a finished, polished game with no setup
- You care about Minecraft's specific content and progression design
- Your friends already play Minecraft and you want to join them
- You dislike variable community content quality
Features
System Requirements
Minimum
1.5 GHz CPU · 2 GB RAM · OpenGL 2.0 GPU · 500 MB storage
Recommended
2.5 GHz CPU · 4 GB RAM · Any modern GPU · 1 GB storage
Frequently asked questions about Luanti
Is Luanti free?
Yes, entirely. Luanti is open-source under LGPL-2.1 with no purchase, subscription, account requirement or advertising. Every game mode in the content browser is also free.
Is Luanti the same as Minetest?
Yes. Minetest was renamed to Luanti in 2024. It is the same project with the same engine and content ecosystem.
Is Luanti a good Minecraft alternative?
It is the strongest free one, with important caveats. It is smaller, faster, runs on far weaker hardware, has first-class Lua modding, and cannot be shut down. But it is an engine with hundreds of community game modes rather than one curated game, so the default experience is sparse — install a game mode before judging it.
Why does Luanti feel empty when I start it?
Because vanilla Luanti is a platform, not a finished game. Open the content browser, install a game mode such as MineClone or a survival pack, and start a world with that instead. The default sandbox is not representative.
Can Luanti run on a Raspberry Pi?
Yes. Luanti runs on Raspberry Pi and other low-powered hardware, which is one of its clearest practical advantages over Minecraft.
Does Luanti have multiplayer?
Yes. You can join public community servers or host your own, with no account requirement and no subscription. Live server and player counts are shown on the Luanti servers page.
