Lichess vs OpenTTD

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?
FeatureLichessOpenTTD
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguageScalaC++
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM4,096 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, sourcedocker, bare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 18,557★ 8,150
First released20102004
ReplacesChess.comTransport Tycoon

Why pick each one

Choose Lichess if…

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

Choose OpenTTD if…

  • Very lightweight server
  • Active modding community
OpenTTD details

Frequently asked questions

Is Lichess or OpenTTD better?

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

Are Lichess and OpenTTD free and open-source?

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

Can I run Lichess and OpenTTD with Docker?

Lichess: yes. OpenTTD: yes.

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