head to head · open source
azerothcore-wotlk vs pinus
azerothcore-wotlk has 8,968 GitHub stars, 3,825 forks, 2,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pinus has 1,932 stars, 392 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. azerothcore-wotlk leads on adoption by 364% (8,968 vs 1,932 stars). azerothcore-wotlk is written in C++ under GPL-2.0; pinus is written in JavaScript under MIT. azerothcore-wotlk has attracted 43% as many forks as stars, pinus 20%. 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 | pinus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.0K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-26 | 2026-07-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 392 |
| 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 pinus if
- You want the pinus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and pinus 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 pinus
Pinus is a fast, scalable, distributed game server framework for Node.js, written in TypeScript and intended for developers building multiplayer games and real time applications such as chat and message push.
read the full pinus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is azerothcore-wotlk or pinus more popular?
azerothcore-wotlk has 8,968 GitHub stars and pinus has 1,932. azerothcore-wotlk has the larger community by that measure.
Are azerothcore-wotlk and pinus free?
Both are open source. azerothcore-wotlk is licensed under GPL-2.0 and pinus under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between azerothcore-wotlk and pinus?
azerothcore-wotlk is written in C++ and pinus in JavaScript. 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 pinus?
Choose azerothcore-wotlk if you want the larger community (8,968 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose pinus if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.