A Dark Room vs AzerothCore
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
AzerothCore
Open-source MMORPG server framework for World of Warcraft
| Feature | A Dark Room | AzerothCore |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Game Servers | Game Servers |
| License | MPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,210 | ★ 8,732 |
| First released | 2023 | 2017 |
| Replaces | — | official WoW servers |
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 AzerothCore if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 8.7k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is A Dark Room or AzerothCore better?
Neither is universally better. AzerothCore has the larger community, while A Dark Room is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are A Dark Room and AzerothCore free and open-source?
Yes. A Dark Room is licensed under MPL-2.0 and AzerothCore under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run A Dark Room and AzerothCore with Docker?
A Dark Room: check the project docs for container support. AzerothCore: yes.