head to head · open source
Godot vs Pumpkin
Godot has 117,424 GitHub stars, 26,796 forks, 18,870 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pumpkin has 11,288 stars, 807 forks, 452 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Godot leads on adoption by 940% (117,424 vs 11,288 stars). Godot is written in C++ under MIT; Pumpkin is written in Rust under GPL-3.0. Godot has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, Pumpkin 7%. Pumpkin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (gamedev), 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
| Godot | Pumpkin | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 117K | ★ 11K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 27K | ⑂ 807 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Godot if
- You weight community size — 117K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Pumpkin if
- You want the Pumpkin feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Pumpkin fits your workflow better
About Godot
Godot Engine is a free, MIT licensed, cross platform 2D and 3D game engine that ships an editor, a class reference, export templates, and one click deployment to desktop, mobile, web and console targets, aimed at game developers who want to own their toolchain and their games without royalties.
read the full Godot overview →
About Pumpkin
Pumpkin is a Minecraft server implementation written entirely in Rust that aims to let anyone host fast and efficient Java and Bedrock Edition servers, and it is built for server operators and plugin developers who want vanilla compatible gameplay without the official Java server.
read the full Pumpkin overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Godot or Pumpkin more popular?
Godot has 117,424 GitHub stars and Pumpkin has 11,288. Godot has the larger community by that measure.
Are Godot and Pumpkin free?
Both are open source. Godot is licensed under MIT and Pumpkin under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Godot and Pumpkin?
Godot is written in C++ and Pumpkin in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Godot or Pumpkin?
Choose Godot if you want the larger community (117,424 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Pumpkin if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.