Mindustry vs Pioneer
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?
Compare Mindustry with
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Compare Pioneer with
choose an app… Lichess OpenRCT2 papermc-docker ArchiSteamFarm Cytopia Note - games browser alt 2048 Nakama Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot Unciv Pioneer Note - space game alt Naev-server-no
Feature Mindustry Pioneer Category Game Servers Game Servers License GPL-3.0 GPL-3.0 Language Java C++ Setup difficulty Easy Easy Min. RAM 512 MB 1,024 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal, binary, source binary, source GitHub stars ★ 28,532 ★ 1,896 First released 2017 2010 Replaces Factorio Elite, Frontier
Why pick each one
Choose Pioneer if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Active community (1.9k GitHub stars) Written in C++ Pioneer details
Frequently asked questions Is Mindustry or Pioneer better? Neither is universally better. Mindustry has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Mindustry and Pioneer free and open-source? Yes. Mindustry is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Pioneer under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mindustry and Pioneer with Docker? Mindustry: yes. Pioneer: check the project docs for container support.