head to head · open source
Pumpkin vs mcrcon
Pumpkin has 12,972 GitHub stars, 1,020 forks, 452 open issues and last shipped today. mcrcon has 1,104 stars, 126 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. Pumpkin leads on adoption by 1,075% (12,972 vs 1,104 stars). Pumpkin is written in Rust under GPL-3.0; mcrcon is written in C under Zlib. Pumpkin has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, mcrcon 11%. Pumpkin 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, minecraft), 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 | mcrcon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 13K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Zlib |
| Written in | Rust | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-15 | 2025-12-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 126 |
| 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 mcrcon if
- You want the mcrcon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and mcrcon 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 mcrcon
mcrcon mcrcon is console based Minecraft rcon client for remote administration and server maintenance scripts. Installing: via packet manager: See for available packages in various Linux distros (note that available packages might be outdated). Gentoo Linux: Arch Linux: building from sources: Check INSTALL.md for more details. Precompiled binaries (if provided) : At the moment binaries are provided for Linux and Windows. Usage: mcrcon [OPTIONS] [COMMANDS] Sends rcon commands to Minecraft server. Server address, port and password can be set using following environment variables: Notes: mcrcon will start in…
read the full mcrcon overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Pumpkin or mcrcon more popular?
Pumpkin has 12,972 GitHub stars and mcrcon has 1,104. Pumpkin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Pumpkin and mcrcon free?
Both are open source. Pumpkin is licensed under GPL-3.0 and mcrcon under Zlib. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Pumpkin and mcrcon?
Pumpkin is written in Rust and mcrcon in C. 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 mcrcon?
Choose Pumpkin if you want the larger community (12,972 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose mcrcon if its feature set, stack or Zlib licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.