head to head · open source
Pumpkin vs hyperion
Pumpkin has 11,858 GitHub stars, 861 forks, 452 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hyperion has 1,085 stars, 34 forks, 45 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Pumpkin leads on adoption by 993% (11,858 vs 1,085 stars). Pumpkin is written in Rust under GPL-3.0; hyperion is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Pumpkin has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, hyperion 3%. Pumpkin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (game-server, minecraft, rust), 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 | hyperion | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 861 | ⑂ 34 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Pumpkin if
- You weight community size — 12K 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 hyperion if
- You want the hyperion feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and hyperion fits your workflow better
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 →
About hyperion
Hyperion is a Minecraft game engine written in Rust for running massive custom multiplayer events, aimed at server operators and game developers who need thousands of concurrent players in a single world.
read the full hyperion overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Pumpkin or hyperion more popular?
Pumpkin has 11,858 GitHub stars and hyperion has 1,085. Pumpkin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Pumpkin and hyperion free?
Both are open source. Pumpkin is licensed under GPL-3.0 and hyperion under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Pumpkin and hyperion?
Pumpkin is written in Rust and hyperion 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, Pumpkin or hyperion?
Choose Pumpkin if you want the larger community (11,858 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose hyperion if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.