SHSelfHostIndex

KAPLAY vs OpenRA

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted game engines & frameworks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
KA KAPLAY Fun JavaScript library for making browser games fast VS OP OpenRA Open-source remake of classic RTS games
FeatureKAPLAYOpenRA
CategoryGame Engines & FrameworksGame Engines & Frameworks
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptC#
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentsourcedocker, bare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 1,766★ 17,194
First released20212010
ReplacesPhaserCommand & Conquer, Red Alert

Why pick each one

Choose KAPLAY if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
  • Written in TypeScript
KAPLAY details

Choose OpenRA if…

  • Faithful yet modernized RTS
  • Active multiplayer scene
OpenRA details

Frequently asked questions

Is KAPLAY or OpenRA better?

Neither is universally better. OpenRA has the larger community, while KAPLAY is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are KAPLAY and OpenRA free and open-source?

Yes. KAPLAY is licensed under MIT and OpenRA under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run KAPLAY and OpenRA with Docker?

KAPLAY: check the project docs for container support. OpenRA: yes.

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