A Dark Room vs CTFd
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
CTFd
Open-source capture the flag framework for hacking competitions
| Feature | A Dark Room | CTFd |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Game Servers | Game Servers |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,210 | ★ 6,776 |
| First released | 2023 | 2017 |
| Replaces | — | HackerRank CTF |
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 CTFd if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.8k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is A Dark Room or CTFd 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 CTFd free and open-source?
Yes. A Dark Room is licensed under MPL-2.0 and CTFd under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run A Dark Room and CTFd with Docker?
A Dark Room: check the project docs for container support. CTFd: yes.