A Dark Room vs Agones
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted game servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
A Dark Room
Minimalist text adventure game for your browser
VS
Agones
Kubernetes-based hosting and scaling for dedicated game servers
| Feature | A Dark Room | Agones |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Game Servers | Game Servers |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,210 | ★ 6,967 |
| First released | 2023 | 2018 |
| Replaces | — | GameLift |
Why pick each one
Choose A Dark Room if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- Mature project with 8.2k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose Agones if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 7k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is A Dark Room or Agones better?
A Dark Room is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Agones if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are A Dark Room and Agones free and open-source?
Yes. A Dark Room is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Agones under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run A Dark Room and Agones with Docker?
A Dark Room: check the project docs for container support. Agones: check the project docs for container support.