Nakama vs Pitaya
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 Nakama with
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Compare Pitaya with
choose an app… Mindustry Lichess OpenRCT2 papermc-docker ArchiSteamFarm Cytopia Note - games browser alt 2048 Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot Unciv Leaf
Feature Nakama Pitaya Category Game Servers Game Servers License Apache-2.0 MIT Language Go Go Setup difficulty Medium Hard Min. RAM 512 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, kubernetes, binary docker, kubernetes, binary GitHub stars ★ 13,121 ★ 2,819 First released 2017 2018 Replaces PlayFab, Firebase proprietary game backends
Why pick each one
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 Choose Pitaya if… Released under the MIT license First-class Docker support for quick deployment Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available Active community (2.8k GitHub stars) Pitaya details
Frequently asked questions Is Nakama or Pitaya better? Nakama is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Pitaya if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Nakama and Pitaya free and open-source? Yes. Nakama is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Pitaya under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Nakama and Pitaya with Docker? Nakama: yes. Pitaya: yes.