GameAP vs PlayFab
GameAP
gameap.comPlayFab
developer.microsoft.comSide by side
| Figure | GameAP | PlayFab |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 5 |
| Spec score · Game Server Orchestration Software | 8.3 (#4) | 8.8 (#2) |
| Integrations | The panel provides an HTTP API, SSO tickets, a plugin catalog and imports from Pterodactyl and Pelican. | The product page lists integrations for Xbox, Steam, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, Apple App Store and Google Play. |
| Licence | The public gameap/gameap repository is marked as MIT licensed. | The hosted PlayFab service is proprietary under Microsoft terms, while many SDK and sample repositories are publicly available under Apache 2.0 or MIT licenses. |
| Self-hosting | Installation is available through Linux and Windows scripts or a Docker image named gameap/gameap. | Microsoft's open-source Thundernetes project lets developers run Windows or Linux game servers on Kubernetes clusters, including on-premises clusters. |
| What it does | GameAP is a web control panel for managing game servers and related services across dedicated machines. | PlayFab is a managed backend platform for games combining game services, real-time analytics and live-operations management. |
Plans
PlayFab
- Free to StartFree
- Standard Plan$99 a month
- Premium Plan$1,999 a month
- Enterprise PlanPriced on request
- Pay-as-you-goFree
In their own words
PlayFab
PlayFab provides managed backend services for live games and connects players across platforms. Its player services include identity, groups, friends, chat, profiles, stats, game saves and shared data, alongside competitive leaderboards and multiplayer networking. Live-operations tools support remote gameplay tuning, real-time player segmentation and A/B testing. Economy and user-generated-content tools cover virtual economies, live offers, monetization and built-in moderation. Game Data Stream can monitor player activity, analyze retention and revenue, and export raw data. The product lists Unreal and Unity SDKs, custom-engine language support, and integrations including Xbox, Steam, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, App Store and Google Play. Development Mode is free and permits up to 1,000 lifetime player account creations per title, with up to 10 titles per account. Free to Start costs nothing. Standard Plan costs $99 a month; Premium Plan costs $1,999 a month.