Gazebo is the open source simulator most ROS developers meet first, maintained by the Open Source Robotics Foundation and its Alliance members. The modern line replaced Gazebo Classic, which reached end of life, and continues through named releases: Harmonic, supported into 2028, and Jetty, the tenth major release with support running to 2031. Plugins can be written in C++ or pure Python, sensors cover cameras, lidar, IMU and contact.
It fits mobile robots, drones, legged platforms and anything already living in ROS 2, since launch files, topics and controllers carry over to hardware with little rewriting. Documentation is thorough but scattered across versions, and the version naming plus patchy Windows and macOS support confuses newcomers. Anyone expecting a click through cell builder with vendor post processors should look at the industrial tools instead.
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