A Dark Room vs Colyseus
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
Colyseus
Authoritative multiplayer game server framework for Node.js
| Feature | A Dark Room | Colyseus |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Game Servers | Game Servers |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,210 | ★ 7,168 |
| First released | 2023 | 2016 |
| Replaces | — | Photon Engine |
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 Colyseus if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 7.2k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is A Dark Room or Colyseus better?
Neither is universally better. A Dark Room has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are A Dark Room and Colyseus free and open-source?
Yes. A Dark Room is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Colyseus under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run A Dark Room and Colyseus with Docker?
A Dark Room: check the project docs for container support. Colyseus: yes.