head to head · open source
azerothcore-wotlk vs zinx
azerothcore-wotlk has 8,936 GitHub stars, 3,802 forks, 2,445 open issues and last shipped today. zinx has 7,764 stars, 1,262 forks, 96 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. azerothcore-wotlk leads on adoption by 15% (8,936 vs 7,764 stars). azerothcore-wotlk is written in C++ under GPL-2.0; zinx is written in Go under MIT. azerothcore-wotlk has attracted 43% as many forks as stars, zinx 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 | zinx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.9K | ★ 7.8K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-06-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick azerothcore-wotlk if
- You weight community size — 8.9K 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 zinx if
- You want the zinx feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and zinx 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 zinx
Zinx is a lightweight concurrent server framework written in Go, aimed at developers who want a small, readable TCP server skeleton they can study and customise rather than adopt a large opaque application framework.
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Frequently asked questions
Is azerothcore-wotlk or zinx more popular?
azerothcore-wotlk has 8,936 GitHub stars and zinx has 7,764. azerothcore-wotlk has the larger community by that measure.
Are azerothcore-wotlk and zinx free?
Both are open source. azerothcore-wotlk is licensed under GPL-2.0 and zinx under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between azerothcore-wotlk and zinx?
azerothcore-wotlk is written in C++ and zinx 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 zinx?
Choose azerothcore-wotlk if you want the larger community (8,936 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose zinx if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.