Agones vs Pterodactyl
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?
Agones
Kubernetes-based hosting and scaling for dedicated game servers
VS
Pterodactyl
Free game server management panel
| Feature | Agones | Pterodactyl |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Game Servers | Game Servers |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | kubernetes, helm | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,967 | ★ 9,115 |
| First released | 2018 | 2015 |
| Replaces | GameLift | TCAdmin, Multicraft |
Why pick each one
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 Agones or Pterodactyl better?
Neither is universally better. Pterodactyl has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Agones and Pterodactyl free and open-source?
Yes. Agones is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Pterodactyl under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Agones and Pterodactyl with Docker?
Agones: check the project docs for container support. Pterodactyl: yes.