MCSManager 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 | MCSManager | Pelican Panel |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 90 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Game Servers | Game Servers |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,969 | ★ 2,330 |
| First released | 2017 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Multicraft, Pterodactyl | TCAdmin, Multicraft |
What are MCSManager and Pelican Panel?
MCSManager
MCSManager is an open-source web control panel for deploying and managing Minecraft and other game servers from a browser. It supports multiple instances, scheduled tasks, and a daemon-based distributed setup.
- Browser server console
- Multi-instance management
- Scheduled tasks
- Distributed daemons
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
MCSManager vs Pelican Panel: key differences
MCSManager is written in TypeScript, while Pelican Panel is built with PHP. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for MCSManager versus MIT for Pelican Panel. MCSManager is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Pelican Panel. MCSManager is the more established project (first released 2017), while Pelican Panel arrived in 2024. MCSManager has the considerably larger community, at 4,969 GitHub stars versus 2,330.
Why pick each one
Choose MCSManager if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (5k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Choose Pelican Panel if…
- Easier setup than predecessors
- Active development
Watch out for
- Young project
- Smaller community so far
Frequently asked questions
Is MCSManager or Pelican Panel better?
Neither is universally better. MCSManager has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are MCSManager and Pelican Panel free and open-source?
Yes. MCSManager is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Pelican Panel under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MCSManager and Pelican Panel with Docker?
MCSManager: yes. Pelican Panel: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, MCSManager or Pelican Panel?
MCSManager 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.