SHSelfHostIndex

UFO: Alien Invasion vs Unciv

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?
UF UFO: Alien Invasion Open-source strategy game of defending Earth from aliens VS UN Unciv Open-source reimplementation of Civilization V
FeatureUFO: Alien InvasionUnciv
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseGPL-2.0MPL-2.0
LanguageC++Kotlin
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, binarybare-metal, binary, docker
GitHub stars★ 166★ 11,071
First released20022018
ReplacesXCOMCivilization V

Why pick each one

Choose UFO: Alien Invasion if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in C++
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
UFO: Alien Invasion details

Choose Unciv if…

  • Released under the MPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 11.1k GitHub stars
Unciv details

Frequently asked questions

Is UFO: Alien Invasion or Unciv better?

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

Are UFO: Alien Invasion and Unciv free and open-source?

Yes. UFO: Alien Invasion is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Unciv under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run UFO: Alien Invasion and Unciv with Docker?

UFO: Alien Invasion: check the project docs for container support. Unciv: yes.

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