head to head · open source
colyseus vs stendhal
colyseus has 7,350 GitHub stars, 666 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped yesterday. stendhal has 703 stars, 226 forks, 143 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. colyseus leads on adoption by 946% (7,350 vs 703 stars). colyseus is written in TypeScript under MIT; stendhal is written in Java under GPL-2.0. colyseus has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, stendhal 32%. colyseus 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
| colyseus | stendhal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.3K | ★ 703 |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-07 | 2026-07-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 666 | ⑂ 226 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick colyseus if
- You weight community size — 7.3K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick stendhal if
- You want the stendhal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and stendhal fits your workflow better
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 →
About stendhal
Stendhal is a free, open source multiplayer online adventure game (MORPG) written in Java, playable by anyone with a web browser, an Android device, or a desktop with Java installed.
read the full stendhal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is colyseus or stendhal more popular?
colyseus has 7,350 GitHub stars and stendhal has 703. colyseus has the larger community by that measure.
Are colyseus and stendhal free?
Both are open source. colyseus is licensed under MIT and stendhal under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between colyseus and stendhal?
colyseus is written in TypeScript and stendhal in Java. 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 stendhal?
Choose colyseus if you want the larger community (7,350 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose stendhal if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.