Game Networking Middleware
Alternatives to Photon Realtime
The tools Specifiction weighs against Photon Realtime, from its list of game networking middleware, each with its plans, platforms and spec score.
- 01
Colyseus Colyseus suits developers building real-time multiplayer games who need server-authoritative game logic, matchmaking, and state synchronization.
From $15/mo Free plan Open source Web · Windows · macOS · Linux9.4 Visit Specs - 02
FishNet FishNet suits Unity game developers who need a client-server networking solution and want to choose or operate their own host.
Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.7 Visit Specs - 03
Unity Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.6 Visit Specs - 04 netcode.io
It is for developers building real-time multiplayer games that need an authenticated UDP client/server transport.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · Self-hosted8.4 Visit Specs - 05
Normcore Normcore suits Unity teams building multiplayer games, esports, remote collaboration tools, live events or installations.
From $49/mo Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.4 Visit Specs - 06
Amazon GameLift Servers Game developers and operators needing dedicated multiplayer hosting, matchmaking, autoscaling, and cross-platform servers may fit GameLift Servers.
From $1/mo Web · Windows · Linux · iOS8.2 Visit Specs - 07 GameNetworkingSockets
It suits game developers needing a UDP transport layer with reliability options, encryption, peer-to-peer networking, and diagnostics.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · iOS8.2 Visit Specs - 08
Photon Fusion Fusion suits game developers building multiplayer projects with supported engines and choosing among different network topologies.
From $0.50/mo Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.2 Visit Specs - 09
Mirror Networking Mirror suits Unity developers building multiplayer games that need server-client networking across desktop, mobile, WebGL, or Linux servers.
Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.1 Visit Specs - 10 Netcode for GameObjects
It suits Unity developers making multiplayer games with smaller player counts and less complex game logic, or adding multiplayer to an existing GameObject-based game.
Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.1 Visit Specs - 11 Open Match Free plan API · Self-hosted8.1 Visit Specs
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Photon Quantum Quantum suits Unity teams building online multiplayer games that need deterministic simulation and rollback.
From $0.50/mo Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.1 Visit Specs - 13 DarkRift 2
DarkRift 2 suits developers building authoritative multiplayer servers with Unity or .NET who need TCP/UDP transport and clustering.
Free plan Windows · Linux · Self-hosted8.0 Visit Specs - 14 LiteNetLib Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · iOS8.0 Visit Specs
- 15 SmartFoxServer
It suits teams building multiplayer games or other multiuser applications that need server-side extensions and real-time analytics.
From €32.50/mo Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.0 Visit Specs - 16 Netick
Netick suits Unity developers building client-server multiplayer games who need state synchronization, prediction, replay, or matchmaking.
Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux7.9 Visit Specs - 17 GGPO Free plan Windows7.7 Visit Specs
- 18 GGRS Web · Windows · macOS · Linux7.7 Visit Specs
- 19 Naia Web · Windows · macOS · Linux7.7 Visit Specs
- 20 Riptide Networking Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · iOS7.6 Visit Specs
- 21 Steamworks Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · API7.4 Visit Specs
- 22 coherence From $666.67/mo Web · Windows · macOS · Linux7.3 Visit Specs
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Steam Input Steam Input suits players configuring supported controllers and developers adding controller support to games.
Windows · macOS · Linux · API7.2 Visit Specs - 24 Photon Server Windows · API · Self-hosted7.1 Visit Specs
- 25 Renet 6.6 Visit Specs
- 26 Hazel Networking 5.6 Visit Specs
- 27 yojimbo Windows · macOS · Linux5.3 Visit Specs
- 28 reliable 5.2 Visit Specs
Photon Realtime, head to head
- Photon Realtime vs Colyseus
- Photon Realtime vs FishNet
- Photon Realtime vs Unity
- Photon Realtime vs netcode.io
- Photon Realtime vs Normcore
- Photon Realtime vs Amazon GameLift Servers
- Photon Realtime vs GameNetworkingSockets
- Photon Realtime vs Photon Fusion
- Photon Realtime vs Mirror Networking
- Photon Realtime vs Netcode for GameObjects
- Photon Realtime vs Open Match
- Photon Realtime vs Photon Quantum