head to head · open source
OpenRA vs agones
OpenRA has 17,736 GitHub stars, 3,112 forks, 1,598 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. agones has 7,098 stars, 956 forks, 59 open issues and last shipped today. OpenRA leads on adoption by 150% (17,736 vs 7,098 stars). OpenRA is written in C# under GPL-3.0; agones is written in Go under Apache-2.0. OpenRA has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, agones 13%. agones was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| OpenRA | agones | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 7.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C# | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-28 | 2026-11-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 956 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenRA if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick agones if
- You want the agones feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and agones fits your workflow better
About OpenRA
OpenRA A Libre/Free Real Time Strategy game engine supporting early Westwood classics. Website: Chat: openra on Libera (web) or Discord Repository: Please read the FAQ in our Wiki and report problems at Join the Forum for discussion. Play Distributed mods include a reimagining of Command & Conquer: Red Alert Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn Dune 2000 EA has not endorsed and does not support this product. Check our Playing the Game Guide to win multiplayer matches. Contribute Please read INSTALL.md and Compiling on how to set up an OpenRA development environment. See Hacking for a (now very outdated) overview of…
read the full OpenRA overview →
About agones
Agones is a library for hosting, running and scaling dedicated game servers on Kubernetes. Agones, is derived from the Greek word agōn which roughly translates to “contest”, “competition at games” and “gathering”. (source) Why does this project exist? Agones replaces usual bespoke or proprietary cluster management and game server scaling solutions with a Kubernetes cluster that includes the Agones custom Kubernetes Controller and matching Custom Resource Definitions for GameServers , Fleets and more. With Agones, Kubernetes gets native abilities to create, run, manage and scale dedicated game server processes…
read the full agones overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenRA or agones more popular?
OpenRA has 17,736 GitHub stars and agones has 7,098. OpenRA has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenRA and agones free?
Both are open source. OpenRA is licensed under GPL-3.0 and agones under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenRA and agones?
OpenRA is written in C# and agones in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenRA or agones?
Choose OpenRA if you want the larger community (17,736 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose agones if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.