FishNet vs Photon Realtime

FishNet is a networking solution for Unity games using a client-server model and a server-authoritative design. It supports dedicated servers, while developers can also run a server and client together for development and testing. Users may choose a host, including self-hosting or player-hosted servers, and the free plan has no CCU caps or paywalls. Its high-level API synchronizes state, logic, and objects; events and inheritance provide lower-level functionality. Built-in client-side prediction includes desynchronization smoothing and Rigidbody prediction, and Addressables support covers network scenes and prefabs. Other listed tools include buffered remote calls, area-of-interest controls, configurable SyncTypes, tick-based timing, and broadcasts. Customizable authenticators can require client authentication before server communication. Communication is unencrypted by default; FishyUnityTransport can enable DTLS for UDP or TLS for WebSocket. FishNet costs nothing. FishNet Pro costs $50, paid once and adds lag compensation and automatic removal of sensitive server logic from client builds. The documentation says prediction collider components currently support primitive shapes such as boxes, spheres, and circles.

Photon Realtime has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.