Mineclonia vs Nakama

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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FeatureMinecloniaNakama
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguageLuaGo
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcedocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 300★ 13,121
First released20202017
ReplacesMinecraftPlayFab, Firebase

Why pick each one

Choose Mineclonia if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in Lua
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Mineclonia details

Choose Nakama if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 13.1k GitHub stars
Nakama details

Frequently asked questions

Is Mineclonia or Nakama better?

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

Are Mineclonia and Nakama free and open-source?

Yes. Mineclonia is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Nakama under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Mineclonia and Nakama with Docker?

Mineclonia: check the project docs for container support. Nakama: yes.

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