Velocity vs Waterfall
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?
Velocity
Modern high-performance Minecraft server proxy
VS
Waterfall
BungeeCord fork for proxying Minecraft Java multiplayer networks
| Feature | Velocity | Waterfall |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Game Servers | Game Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Java | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, binary | bare-metal, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,230 | ★ 751 |
| First released | 2018 | 2016 |
| Replaces | BungeeCord | BungeeCord |
Why pick each one
Choose Waterfall if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Shell
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Velocity or Waterfall better?
Neither is universally better. Velocity has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Velocity and Waterfall free and open-source?
Yes. Velocity is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Waterfall under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Velocity and Waterfall with Docker?
Velocity: yes. Waterfall: yes.