papermc-docker vs Leaf
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?
Compare papermc-docker with
choose an app… Mindustry Lichess OpenRCT2 ArchiSteamFarm Cytopia Note - games browser alt 2048 Nakama Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot Unciv Prism Launcher BrowserQuest Pterodactyl AzerothCore A Dark Room OpenTTD Endless Sky Mineflayer Colyseus Agones shapez.io Battle for Wesnoth CTFd Ren'Py VCMI GeyserMC Cuberite SuperTuxKart MCSManager ink LinuxGSM untrusted Steam Headless Warzone 2100 Terasology Veloren PocketMine-MP OpenXRay Minecraft Overviewer WorldEdit Palworld Server Docker SuperTux Widelands Twine 0 A.D. Pitaya ioquake3 BlueMap Teeworlds BrowserQuest Note - mozilla-bq alt Hextris Purpur EssentialsX Valheim Server Docker Velocity Pelican Panel Freeciv-web Superpowers Cytopia PMMP Note - PocketMine alt BedrockConnect 0 A.D. Lobby Note - pyrogenesis server Pioneer OpenLoco Docker Minecraft Bedrock Server MTA:SA Multicraft Note - AMP free alt Pufferpanel Crafty Controller Inform 7 Hypersomnia Freeciv Server UnknownHorizons Note - settlement game Nukkit Mineserver Note - minecraft panel alt Lodestone Colobot Note - browser game alt Hextris-no OpenSpades EasyRPG Player AzuraCast Games LinuxGSM Note - SteamCMD-GUI alt SourceMod Veloren Note - games server alt Mindustry-server-no Gameyfin Leaf Note - Minecraft server alt Folia FreeOrion AssaultCube OpenHV Plan Note - Minecraft analytics alt Player Analytics go-mc Naev Terraforming Mars Lancache Ownfoil mc-router TES3MP Infrared Adventure Game Studio Zero-K DDNet Lichess Board Note - chessground alt pychess FlightGear JGR's Patchpack Note - OpenTTD multiplayer server Waterfall Citizens Drop ET: Legacy Factorio Server Manager FreeCol VoxeLibre Xonotic Posio RconCli Pioneer Note - space game alt Naev-server-no Scribble.rs LinCity-NG Flying Squid SoulFire Hedgewars Red Eclipse OpenDungeons Minecraft Server Control Script Suroi auto-mcs Sponge RAWeb MegaGlest OpenClonk EDOPro SourceBans++ MineOS Curse of War GameVault PyChess-Variants Mineclonia VirtualTabletop Enshrouded Dedicated Server Armagetron Advanced OpenArena EasyWI piqueserver SRVPro SteamCMD Server Screeps Server (screeps-launcher) UFO: Alien Invasion Lix Luanti ContentDB Note - minetest mods server Mineclone2 Note - VoxeLibre server alt MineClone5 Nexuiz Note - Xonotic server alt darkplaces Simutrans GeoQuest Repixture Lodestone Core The Mana World Minus Games NextGBA Gameap Cubiks 2048 CnCNet Server 20 euros 243 Digibuzzer Framagames Sutom Trivabble
Compare Leaf with
choose an app… Mindustry Lichess OpenRCT2 ArchiSteamFarm Cytopia Note - games browser alt 2048 Nakama Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot Unciv Pitaya
Feature papermc-docker Leaf Category Game Servers Game Servers License Apache-2.0 Apache-2.0 Language Shell Go Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 1,024 MB 256 MB Deployment docker, kubernetes bare-metal, source GitHub stars ★ 14,076 ★ 5,517 First released 2014 2015 Replaces Minecraft Realms proprietary game backends
Why pick each one
Choose Leaf if… Released under the Apache-2.0 license Mature project with 5.5k GitHub stars Written in Go Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM Leaf details
Frequently asked questions Is papermc-docker or Leaf better? papermc-docker is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Leaf if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are papermc-docker and Leaf free and open-source? Yes. papermc-docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Leaf under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run papermc-docker and Leaf with Docker? papermc-docker: yes. Leaf: check the project docs for container support.