head to head · open source
MonoGame vs colyseus
MonoGame has 14,433 GitHub stars, 3,108 forks, 766 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. colyseus has 7,311 stars, 665 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped today. MonoGame leads on adoption by 97% (14,433 vs 7,311 stars). MonoGame is written in C# under a custom or non-standard licence; colyseus is written in TypeScript under MIT. MonoGame has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, colyseus 9%. colyseus was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| MonoGame | colyseus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 7.3K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | C# | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 665 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick MonoGame if
- You weight community size — 14K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick colyseus if
- You want the colyseus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and colyseus fits your workflow better
About MonoGame
MonoGame is a free, open source C and .NET game framework for building cross platform games. It lives in the .NET game development ecosystem and is positioned as one framework for creating games on desktop PCs, mobile devices, and consoles. It is an open source re implementation of Microsoft's discontinued XNA Framework, used to create games such as Streets of Rage 4, Carrion, Celeste, and Stardew Valley.
read the full MonoGame overview →
About colyseus
Colyseus is an MIT licensed authoritative multiplayer framework for Node.js that provides synchronizable data structures, room based matchmaking, and client SDKs for TypeScript, React, Unity, Godot, GameMaker, Defold, Construct, Haxe, and C, aimed at developers building realtime and turn based multiplayer games.
read the full colyseus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is MonoGame or colyseus more popular?
MonoGame has 14,433 GitHub stars and colyseus has 7,311. MonoGame has the larger community by that measure.
Are MonoGame and colyseus free?
Both are open source. MonoGame has no licence declared in this registry, and colyseus is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between MonoGame and colyseus?
MonoGame is written in C# and colyseus in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, MonoGame or colyseus?
Choose MonoGame if you want the larger community (14,433 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose colyseus if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.