SHSelfHostIndex

FreeCol vs Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

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?
FR FreeCol Open-source turn-based colonization strategy game VS CA Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Open-source turn-based survival roguelike
FeatureFreeColCataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseGPL-2.0CC-BY-SA-3.0
LanguageJavaC++
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcebare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 704★ 12,896
First released20032013
ReplacesSid Meier's ColonizationNetHack

Why pick each one

Choose FreeCol if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in Java
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
FreeCol details

Choose Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead if…

  • Enormous depth
  • Active development
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead details

Frequently asked questions

Is FreeCol or Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead better?

Neither is universally better. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead has the larger community, while FreeCol is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are FreeCol and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead free and open-source?

Yes. FreeCol is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead under CC-BY-SA-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run FreeCol and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead with Docker?

FreeCol: check the project docs for container support. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead: check the project docs for container support.

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