head to head · open source
azerothcore-wotlk vs kruise-game
azerothcore-wotlk has 8,989 GitHub stars, 3,839 forks, 2,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kruise-game has 1,079 stars, 173 forks, 47 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. azerothcore-wotlk leads on adoption by 733% (8,989 vs 1,079 stars). azerothcore-wotlk is written in C++ under GPL-2.0; kruise-game is written in Go under Apache-2.0. azerothcore-wotlk has attracted 43% as many forks as stars, kruise-game 16%. azerothcore-wotlk was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (game-server), 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 | kruise-game | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.0K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-07-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 173 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick azerothcore-wotlk if
- You weight community size — 9.0K 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 kruise-game if
- You want the kruise-game 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 kruise-game fits your workflow better
About azerothcore-wotlk
AzerothCore (azerothcore wotlk) is an open source, modular C++ game server and framework that recreates the World of Warcraft patch 3.3.5a experience, built for people who want to run and extend their own MMORPG server rather than pay for one.
read the full azerothcore-wotlk overview →
About kruise-game
OpenKruiseGame (OKG) is a Kubernetes workload for teams running multiplayer game servers on Kubernetes who need hot updates, per server operations, and game specific networking that built in workloads do not provide.
read the full kruise-game overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is azerothcore-wotlk or kruise-game more popular?
azerothcore-wotlk has 8,989 GitHub stars and kruise-game has 1,079. azerothcore-wotlk has the larger community by that measure.
Are azerothcore-wotlk and kruise-game free?
Both are open source. azerothcore-wotlk is licensed under GPL-2.0 and kruise-game under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between azerothcore-wotlk and kruise-game?
azerothcore-wotlk is written in C++ and kruise-game 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, azerothcore-wotlk or kruise-game?
Choose azerothcore-wotlk if you want the larger community (8,989 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose kruise-game if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.