SHSelfHostIndex

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead vs Trivabble

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?
CA Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Open-source turn-based survival roguelike VS TR Trivabble Scrabble® game free play not enforcing rules
FeatureCataclysm: Dark Days AheadTrivabble
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseCC-BY-SA-3.0AGPL-3.0-or-later
LanguageC++
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB50 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, binary, sourcebare-metal
GitHub stars★ 12,896—
First released20132025
ReplacesNetHack—

Why pick each one

Choose Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead if…

  • Enormous depth
  • Active development
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead details

Choose Trivabble if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0-or-later license
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Trivabble details

Frequently asked questions

Is Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead or Trivabble better?

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

Are Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead and Trivabble free and open-source?

Yes. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead is licensed under CC-BY-SA-3.0 and Trivabble under AGPL-3.0-or-later. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead and Trivabble with Docker?

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead: check the project docs for container support. Trivabble: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons