head to head · open source
Pumpkin vs agones
Pumpkin has 12,827 GitHub stars, 986 forks, 452 open issues and last shipped today. agones has 7,098 stars, 956 forks, 59 open issues and last shipped today. Pumpkin leads on adoption by 81% (12,827 vs 7,098 stars). Pumpkin is written in Rust under GPL-3.0; agones is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Pumpkin has attracted 8% 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 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
| Pumpkin | agones | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 13K | ★ 7.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 986 | ⑂ 956 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Pumpkin if
- You weight community size — 13K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- 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 Pumpkin
Pumpkin Pumpkin is a Minecraft server built entirely in Rust, offering a fast, efficient, and customizable experience. It prioritizes performance and player enjoyment while adhering to the core mechanics of the game. Goals Performance : Leveraging multi threading for maximum speed and efficiency. Compatibility : Supports the latest Java & Bedrock Minecraft server version while adhering to Vanilla game mechanics. Security : Prioritizes security by preventing known security exploits. Flexibility : Highly configurable, with the ability to disable unnecessary features. Extensibility : Provides a foundation for…
read the full Pumpkin 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 Pumpkin or agones more popular?
Pumpkin has 12,827 GitHub stars and agones has 7,098. Pumpkin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Pumpkin and agones free?
Both are open source. Pumpkin is licensed under GPL-3.0 and agones under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Pumpkin and agones?
Pumpkin is written in Rust 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, Pumpkin or agones?
Choose Pumpkin if you want the larger community (12,827 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose agones if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.