Lichess vs LinCity-NG

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?
FeatureLichessLinCity-NG
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguageScalaC++
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM4,096 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, sourcebinary, source
GitHub stars★ 18,557★ 620
First released20102005
ReplacesChess.comSimCity

Why pick each one

Choose Lichess if…

  • Full-featured chess platform
  • Completely ad-free
Lichess details

Choose LinCity-NG if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
LinCity-NG details

Frequently asked questions

Is Lichess or LinCity-NG better?

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

Are Lichess and LinCity-NG free and open-source?

Yes. Lichess is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and LinCity-NG under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Lichess and LinCity-NG with Docker?

Lichess: yes. LinCity-NG: check the project docs for container support.

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