Mindustry vs UFO: Alien Invasion

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

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FeatureMindustryUFO: Alien Invasion
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguageJavaC++
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, binary, sourcebare-metal, binary
GitHub stars★ 28,532★ 166
First released20172002
ReplacesFactorioXCOM

Why pick each one

Choose Mindustry if…

  • Lightweight server
  • Large active community
Mindustry details

Choose UFO: Alien Invasion if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in C++
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
UFO: Alien Invasion details

Frequently asked questions

Is Mindustry or UFO: Alien Invasion 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 UFO: Alien Invasion free and open-source?

Yes. Mindustry is licensed under GPL-3.0 and UFO: Alien Invasion under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Mindustry and UFO: Alien Invasion with Docker?

Mindustry: yes. UFO: Alien Invasion: check the project docs for container support.

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