head to head · open source
Pumpkin vs pufferpanel
Pumpkin has 11,478 GitHub stars, 829 forks, 452 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pufferpanel has 1,749 stars, 270 forks, 116 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Pumpkin leads on adoption by 556% (11,478 vs 1,749 stars). Pumpkin is written in Rust under GPL-3.0; pufferpanel is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Pumpkin has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, pufferpanel 15%. 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 | pufferpanel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 11K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 829 | ⑂ 270 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Pumpkin if
- You weight community size — 11K 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 pufferpanel if
- You want the pufferpanel 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 pufferpanel 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 pufferpanel
PufferPanel is a free and open source, web based game server management system written in Go that lets an operator manage multiple different game servers from one central location and give other users their own servers or access to existing ones, aimed at everyone from individual users and personal setups through to small networks and larger operations.
read the full pufferpanel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Pumpkin or pufferpanel more popular?
Pumpkin has 11,478 GitHub stars and pufferpanel has 1,749. Pumpkin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Pumpkin and pufferpanel free?
Both are open source. Pumpkin is licensed under GPL-3.0 and pufferpanel under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Pumpkin and pufferpanel?
Pumpkin is written in Rust and pufferpanel 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 pufferpanel?
Choose Pumpkin if you want the larger community (11,478 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose pufferpanel if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.