Gameap vs Pelican Panel
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted game servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Pelican Panel
Modern open-source game server control panel
| Feature | Gameap | Pelican Panel |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 74 · Good | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Game Servers | Game Servers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 155 | ★ 2,330 |
| First released | 2014 | 2024 |
| Replaces | AMP, TCAdmin | TCAdmin, Multicraft |
What are Gameap and Pelican Panel?
Gameap
GameAP is a free, open-source game server control panel that lets administrators manage multiple dedicated game servers from a single web interface. It supports remote daemons, scheduled tasks, and per-game configuration.
- Multi-server management
- Remote daemon architecture
- Scheduled task automation
- Per-game settings
Pelican Panel
Pelican is a free, open-source game server management panel built with Laravel. It is a modern successor in spirit to Pterodactyl, running game servers in isolated containers.
- Container-isolated game servers
- Modern Laravel-based UI
- Egg-based game definitions
- Streamlined installer
Gameap vs Pelican Panel: key differences
Gameap is written in Go, while Pelican Panel is built with PHP. Gameap is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Pelican Panel. Gameap is the more established project (first released 2014), while Pelican Panel arrived in 2024. Pelican Panel has the considerably larger community, at 2,330 GitHub stars versus 155.
Why pick each one
Choose Gameap if…
- Mature panel
- Free and open
Watch out for
- Documentation partly Russian
- Daemon setup needed
Choose Pelican Panel if…
- Easier setup than predecessors
- Active development
Watch out for
- Young project
- Smaller community so far
Frequently asked questions
Is Gameap or Pelican Panel better?
Neither is universally better. Pelican Panel has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Gameap and Pelican Panel free and open-source?
Yes. Gameap is licensed under MIT and Pelican Panel under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gameap and Pelican Panel with Docker?
Gameap: yes. Pelican Panel: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Gameap or Pelican Panel?
Gameap has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Pelican Panel. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.