Asobi vs Colyseus
Asobi
asobi.dev
Colyseus
colyseus.ioSide by side
| Figure | Asobi | Colyseus |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $15/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Game Matchmaking Software | 8.8 (#7) | 9.3 (#3) |
| Cloud hosting | Asobi Cloud is hosted on Hetzner in Germany, uses EU-only infrastructure sub-processors, and is invite-only while studios are onboarded. | Colyseus Cloud provides managed deployment, scaling and monitoring without requiring operators to manage servers. |
| Self-hosting | The project is Apache-2.0 licensed and can be run locally with Docker Compose or self-hosted as a Docker container. | Colyseus runs as a standard Node.js application and can be deployed on cloud providers or bare metal. |
| Support | The maker invites users to ask questions and share projects in its Discord community. | The Open Source plan includes community support, while Colyseus Cloud includes support by email. |
Plans
In their own words
Asobi
Asobi is an open-source multiplayer game backend built on Erlang/OTP for solo developers and small teams making indie 2D games. It provides authentication, matchmaking, real-time sync, leaderboards, a virtual economy, social features, cloud saves, and an admin dashboard. Developers can build ephemeral matches or persistent worlds with lazily loaded zones. Lua match logic can be changed while a match runs, with updates taking effect on the next tick. Official client SDKs are listed for Unreal, Unity, Godot, Defold, TypeScript/JavaScript, Dart/Flutter, Lua, and LÖVE. Monitoring includes OpenTelemetry integration, structured logging, and telemetry events for matches, queues, and connections. The Apache 2.0 core can run locally with Docker Compose or be self-hosted as a Docker container. Asobi Cloud is hosted on Hetzner in Germany and uses EU-only infrastructure subprocessors, but is invite-only while studios are onboarded. The project is single-node by design and pre-1.0, so minor breaking API changes may occur before 1.0.
Colyseus
Colyseus is an open-source Node.js framework for building real-time multiplayer games, with built-in matchmaking and state synchronization. Its authoritative server design has clients send inputs while the server decides game outcomes. Developers define game state on the server, and Colyseus synchronizes it to clients without manual serialization. The framework creates rooms and matches players automatically; rooms can be distributed across processes or machines. The site says this can scale from 10 to 10,000+ concurrent users. SDKs or integrations are listed for JavaScript, Unity, Godot, GameMaker, Defold, Haxe, C, and Construct 3. The MIT-licensed framework is free for commercial games and can be self-hosted as a standard Node.js application on cloud services or bare metal. Colyseus Cloud provides deployment, scaling, and monitoring across 32 global locations. Its Cloud plan starts at $15/mo and includes email support, while the free Open Source plan includes community support. Cloud has no free tier or automatic scaling; heavier workloads require upgrading deployment resources through the dashboard.