head to head · open source
colyseus vs pinus
colyseus has 7,534 GitHub stars, 687 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pinus has 1,935 stars, 388 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. colyseus leads on adoption by 289% (7,534 vs 1,935 stars). colyseus is written in TypeScript under MIT; pinus is written in JavaScript under MIT. colyseus has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, pinus 20%. colyseus 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, nodejs), 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 | pinus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.5K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-10 | 2026-09-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 687 | ⑂ 388 |
| 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 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 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 pinus
官方网站： 欢迎加Pinus官方QQ群：102530089 示例工程请参见： 手动安装： npm install pinus g mkdir testProject cd testProject 初始化项目 pinus init 与Pomelo的关系 1. pinus是pomelo的TS版本，框架内部把回调改为了Promise。 1. 框架与pomelo一样，所以可以看pomelo的相关教程。 1. 协议与pomelo一样，所以pomelo的客户端代码可以直接对接上pinus服务端。 框架编译方法 编译好以后可以使用 yarn link 或者 npm link 软链接到自己的项目。 也可以用 yarn 的 workspace 查看pinus CHANGELOG Pinus a fast, scalable game server framework for node.js Pinus is a fast, scalable game server framework for node.js. It provides the basic development framework and many related components, including libraries and tools. Pinus is also suitable for real time web applications; its…
read the full pinus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is colyseus or pinus more popular?
colyseus has 7,534 GitHub stars and pinus has 1,935. colyseus has the larger community by that measure.
Are colyseus and pinus free?
Both are open source. colyseus is licensed under MIT and pinus under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between colyseus and pinus?
colyseus is written in TypeScript 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, colyseus or pinus?
Choose colyseus if you want the larger community (7,534 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pinus if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.