SHSelfHostIndex

Leaf Note - Minecraft server alt Folia vs Nakama

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?
LE Leaf Note - Minecraft server alt Folia Performance-focused Paper fork for Minecraft servers VS NA Nakama Open-source game server for realtime multiplayer and social features
FeatureLeaf Note - Minecraft server alt FoliaNakama
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguageJavaGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, binarydocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 1,047★ 13,121
First released20232017
ReplacesVanilla Minecraft serverPlayFab, Firebase

Why pick each one

Choose Leaf Note - Minecraft server alt Folia if…

  • Good performance gains
  • Easy migration
Leaf Note - Minecraft server alt Folia 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 Leaf Note - Minecraft server alt Folia or Nakama better?

Neither is universally better. Nakama has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Leaf Note - Minecraft server alt Folia and Nakama free and open-source?

Yes. Leaf Note - Minecraft server alt Folia is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Nakama under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Leaf Note - Minecraft server alt Folia and Nakama with Docker?

Leaf Note - Minecraft server alt Folia: yes. Nakama: yes.

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