head to head · open source
azerothcore-wotlk vs forgottenserver
azerothcore-wotlk has 9,178 GitHub stars, 3,958 forks, 2,445 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. forgottenserver has 1,844 stars, 1,141 forks, 226 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. azerothcore-wotlk leads on adoption by 398% (9,178 vs 1,844 stars). azerothcore-wotlk is written in C++ under GPL-2.0; forgottenserver is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. azerothcore-wotlk has attracted 43% as many forks as stars, forgottenserver 62%. azerothcore-wotlk was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (game, game-server, mmorpg), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| azerothcore-wotlk | forgottenserver | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.2K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-11 | 2026-11-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick azerothcore-wotlk if
- You weight community size — 9.2K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick forgottenserver if
- You want the forgottenserver feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and forgottenserver fits your workflow better
About azerothcore-wotlk
AzerothCore Build Status Introduction AzerothCore is an open source game server application and framework designed for hosting massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs). It is based on the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) and seeks to recreate the gameplay experience of the original game from patch 3.3.5a. The original code is based on MaNGOS, TrinityCore, and SunwellCore and has since then had extensive development to improve stability, in game mechanics, and modularity to the game. AC has also grown into a community driven project with a significant number of contributors and developers…
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About forgottenserver
forgottenserver =============== The Forgotten Server is a free and open source MMORPG server emulator written in C++. It is a fork of the OpenTibia Server project. To connect to the server, you can use OTClient. Getting Started Compiling, alternatively download releases Scripting Reference Contributing Support If you need help, please visit the support forum on OTLand. Our issue tracker is not a support forum, and using it as one will result in your issue being closed. If you were unable to get assistance in the support forum, you should consider becoming a premium user on OTLand which grants you access to the…
read the full forgottenserver overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is azerothcore-wotlk or forgottenserver more popular?
azerothcore-wotlk has 9,178 GitHub stars and forgottenserver has 1,844. azerothcore-wotlk has the larger community by that measure.
Are azerothcore-wotlk and forgottenserver free?
Both are open source. azerothcore-wotlk is licensed under GPL-2.0 and forgottenserver under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between azerothcore-wotlk and forgottenserver?
azerothcore-wotlk is written in C++ and forgottenserver in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, azerothcore-wotlk or forgottenserver?
Choose azerothcore-wotlk if you want the larger community (9,178 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose forgottenserver if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.