SHSelfHostIndex

BrowserQuest 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?
BR BrowserQuest Self-hostable HTML5 multiplayer adventure game VS CA Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Open-source turn-based survival roguelike
FeatureBrowserQuestCataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseMPL-2.0CC-BY-SA-3.0
LanguageJavaScriptC++
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalbare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 9,378★ 12,896
First released20122013
ReplacesRealm of the Mad GodNetHack

Why pick each one

Choose BrowserQuest if…

  • Released under the MPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 9.4k GitHub stars
BrowserQuest details

Choose Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is BrowserQuest or Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead better?

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

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

Yes. BrowserQuest is licensed under MPL-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 BrowserQuest and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead with Docker?

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

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