Gel vs Nakama
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare Gel with
choose an app… Excalidraw Supabase lazygit Hoppscotch json-server Strapi NocoDB PocketBase Penpot Appwrite dive Windows lazydocker Directus Wasp Convex InstantDB Manifest Kinto
Compare Nakama with
choose an app… Supabase PocketBase Appwrite Directus Mindustry Wasp Lichess OpenRCT2 papermc-docker ArchiSteamFarm Cytopia Note - games browser alt 2048 Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot Convex Unciv InstantDB Prism Launcher BrowserQuest Pterodactyl AzerothCore A Dark Room OpenTTD Endless Sky Manifest Mineflayer Colyseus Agones shapez.io Battle for Wesnoth CTFd Ren'Py VCMI GeyserMC Leaf Cuberite SuperTuxKart MCSManager ink LinuxGSM untrusted Steam Headless Kinto 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 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
Feature Gel Nakama Category Developer Tools & Git Game Servers License Apache-2.0 Apache-2.0 Language Python Go Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 1,024 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, binary docker, kubernetes, binary GitHub stars ★ 14,168 ★ 13,121 First released 2019 2017 Replaces Firebase, Supabase PlayFab, Firebase
Why pick each one
Choose Gel if… Released under the Apache-2.0 license First-class Docker support for quick deployment Mature project with 14.2k GitHub stars Written in Python Gel 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 Gel or Nakama better? Neither is universally better. Gel has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Gel and Nakama free and open-source? Yes. Gel is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Nakama under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gel and Nakama with Docker? Gel: yes. Nakama: yes.