A Dark Room vs Endless Sky
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
Endless Sky
Free space exploration and trading game
| Feature | A Dark Room | Endless Sky |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Game Servers | Game Servers |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | bare-metal, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,210 | ★ 7,490 |
| First released | 2023 | 2015 |
| Replaces | — | Escape Velocity |
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
Frequently asked questions
Is A Dark Room or Endless Sky better?
Neither is universally better. A Dark Room has the larger community, while Endless Sky is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are A Dark Room and Endless Sky free and open-source?
Yes. A Dark Room is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Endless Sky under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run A Dark Room and Endless Sky with Docker?
A Dark Room: check the project docs for container support. Endless Sky: check the project docs for container support.