Mirror Networking vs Photon Fusion
Mirror Networking
mirror-networking.com
Photon Fusion
photonengine.comSide by side
| Figure | Mirror Networking | Photon Fusion |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $0.50/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 8 |
| Spec score · Game Networking Middleware | 8.1 (#10) | 8.2 (#9) |
| Headquarters | Germany | Hamburg, Germany |
| Product | Mirror is a system for building multiplayer capabilities for Unity games. | Photon Fusion is a state-transfer netcode SDK for multiplayer games made for Unity, Unreal, and Godot. |
| Support | The maker invites users to contact [email protected] with questions or policy review requests and says it is happy to help with projects. | All plans include online documentation, free samples, tutorials, video streams, and assistance with account, billing, and service-status issues. |
| Unity integration | Mirror uses Unity components including NetworkManager, NetworkIdentity and NetworkBehaviour, and supports automatic synchronization of transforms and script variables. | Photon describes Fusion as a Unity Verified Solution and its SDK download page describes Fusion 2 as a high-performance state synchronization library for Unity. |
Plans
Photon Fusion
- Development Only 20 CCUFree
- Free 100 CCUFree
- Premium Cloud$0.50 a month
- 100 CCU$95, paid once
- 500 CCU$125 a month
- 1000 CCU$250 a month
- 2000 CCU$500 a month
- Enterprise CloudPriced on request
In their own words
Mirror Networking
Mirror Networking is a free system for adding multiplayer capabilities to Unity games. It uses a server-authoritative model by default and supports dedicated servers as well as client hosts. Core tools include message handlers, serialization, distributed object management, and state synchronization. Unity components such as NetworkManager, NetworkIdentity, and NetworkBehaviour connect game objects and scripts, with automatic synchronization for transforms and script variables. Built-in transport choices include KCP UDP, Telepathy TCP, WebSockets, a multiplexer, latency simulation, encryption, and Edgegap Relay. Other transport connections include Steam, Epic Online Services, LiteNetLib, and ENet. Mirror is MIT licensed, with no paywalls or CCU costs. The maker says it stores no user data and performs no tracking, analytics, or advertising. Its feature list marks lag compensation and encryption as Beta, unreliable sync mode as in development, and bitpacking and prediction as being researched. The GitHub README recommends Unity 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 LTS, or 6000.1 to get started.
Photon Fusion
Photon Fusion is a state-transfer netcode SDK for multiplayer games made with Unity, Unreal, and Godot. Its tick-based simulation supports client-side prediction and snapshot interpolation, while lag compensation addresses the delay between a client firing and the server registering a possible hit. Developers can choose full-consistency replication or eventual-consistency replication, which uses less bandwidth per object. Available network topologies include dedicated server, client host, and shared authority. Engine availability has qualifications: the product page lists all three engines, while documentation marks Unreal as early access and says Godot early access is available by contacting Photon. Dedicated-server use is described as a headless Unity build and requires third-party server orchestration at additional cost. Free plans include a 100-CCU option and a development-only option for 20 concurrent users. A one-time 100-CCU plan costs 95.00 USD for 12 months; monthly plans include 125.00 USD for 500 CCU. Premium Cloud is billed at 0.50 USD per CCU per month, with a 1,000 USD monthly minimum. All plans include online documentation, samples, tutorials, video streams, and help with account, billing, and service-status issues.