EasyWI vs Nakama

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?
FeatureEasyWINakama
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePHPGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metaldocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 246★ 13,121
First released20232017
ReplacesPlayFab, Firebase

Why pick each one

Choose EasyWI if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Written in PHP
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
EasyWI details

Choose Nakama if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 13.1k GitHub stars
Nakama details

Frequently asked questions

Is EasyWI or Nakama better?

Neither is universally better. Nakama has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are EasyWI and Nakama free and open-source?

Yes. EasyWI is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Nakama under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run EasyWI and Nakama with Docker?

EasyWI: check the project docs for container support. Nakama: yes.

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