head to head · open source
colyseus vs agones
colyseus has 7,511 GitHub stars, 683 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped yesterday. agones has 7,098 stars, 956 forks, 59 open issues and last shipped yesterday. colyseus leads on adoption by 6% (7,511 vs 7,098 stars). colyseus is written in TypeScript under MIT; agones is written in Go under Apache-2.0. colyseus has attracted 9% 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. The two share 2 topic tags (game-server, multiplayer), 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
| colyseus | agones | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.5K | ★ 7.1K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 683 | ⑂ 956 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick colyseus if
- You weight community size — 7.5K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- 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 colyseus
Multiplayer Framework for Node.js. View documentation Colyseus is an Authoritative Multiplayer Framework for Node.js, with SDKs available for all major platforms and engines. Client SDKs The project focuses on providing synchronizable data structures for realtime and turn based games, matchmaking, and ease of usage both on the server side and client side. The mission of the framework is to be a standard netcode & matchmaking solution for any kind of project you can think of! Why developers choose Colyseus: ⚡️ Real time state sync that just works → Define your state on the server and it automatically synchronizes…
read the full colyseus 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 colyseus or agones more popular?
colyseus has 7,511 GitHub stars and agones has 7,098. colyseus has the larger community by that measure.
Are colyseus and agones free?
Both are open source. colyseus is licensed under MIT and agones under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between colyseus and agones?
colyseus is written in TypeScript 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, colyseus or agones?
Choose colyseus if you want the larger community (7,511 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose agones if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.