Apart from design differences, the TIC-80 is free and open source. PICO-8 is not. This could mean that whatever you create in the PICO-8 will be playable only as long as the owner of the platform is interested. Whatever you create in the TIC-80 can continue to be playable even after the original developer loses interest in the project.
There is a healthy community around the TIC-80 that cares about the continuous development of the platform. There is an open atmosphere around it. Anyone can be a developer in the TIC-80. Students don't need to ask mom to buy a license for them. On the opposite, PICO-8 feels like a walled garden.
This was the main reason I chose to develop my tiny games in the TIC-80.
Pico-8 other than licensing is superior. But TIC-80 has a pro version that is paid and has some features locked behind it. I generally dislike the practice. You either release the whole software as open source or release a commercial product.
I really like this model. Users get free stuff, they create content to attract more users. Bigger fans spend a bit of money on full version, which fuels the development. Potential contributors build from source code and get full version. The full version is little more than quality-of-life improvement and WIP modules that will likely reach free version when done. It's hard to see any downside.
Compare it to other models. Donations don't work at all, they just make developers downhearted. Ads are huge betrayal of user's trust (and hard to do across platforms). Freemium is based on addiction-forming patterns. Commercial products create walled gardens for privileged, they severely limit adoption rates and they are reserved for first-comer (PICO-8).
This is actually how I released mobile games in the past. The binaries were for sale on Google Play, whereas the source was open and available for people to compile themselves if they wanted.
I may be revisiting this because Android is now requiring AABs for all Google Play apps.
Can you list what's better in your perspective in pico-8? I've been looking at both recently in the context of teaching kids programming basics and didn't really see that much of a difference.
They both have pros and cons, but they're indeed quite similar.
TIC-80 is less restricting: more languages (Lua, MoonScript, JavaScript, Fennel, Wren), custom color palette, higher res, and widescreen. The main advantage of PICO-8 is its community, which is the biggest of all "fantasy consoles", which means more help, more examples, and more released games.
I'd personally go with PICO-8, because it's more restricting, and thus allows for a better focus (IMO).
