Moonlight Game Streaming vs Moonlight Web

Moonlight Game Streaming sends games from a gaming PC to supported devices for remote play. It is a free, open-source implementation of NVIDIA's GameStream protocol; the listed plan costs nothing, with no subscriptions or paid versions with extra features. Clients are available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Apple TV, ChromeOS, Steam Link, and Raspberry Pi. On a capable client, Moonlight can stream a full Windows desktop at up to 4K with HDR. Its PC client supports up to 120 FPS and can disable V-Sync for lower latency. Users can host their own gaming server using options such as port forwarding, IPv6, ZeroTier, Tailscale, and NordVPN Meshnet. Moonlight recommends Sunshine as a host; GeForce Experience is also listed as compatible, though NVIDIA is discontinuing its GameStream feature. Wolf can stream games and applications running in Docker containers. There is no pure web client because the protocol requires raw TCP and UDP sockets that browsers do not support. The project began as a 2013 hackathon project by Case Western Reserve University students.

Moonlight Web is a free, open-source self-hosted server that streams a gaming PC to devices with a modern browser. The server is installed only on the gaming PC; clients open a URL without installing an app or creating an account. The maker states support for streams up to 4K HDR at 240 fps and latency under 20 ms over Wi-Fi. Browser decoding uses WebCodecs for H.264, HEVC, and AV1, depending on available browser support. Supported controls include Xbox and PlayStation controllers with rumble, keyboard, pointer-lock mouse, touch trackpad, and virtual keyboard. The client can discover and pair with Sunshine, Wolf, and MultiSeat hosts. Remote sessions use direct peer-to-peer WebRTC, with an outgoing connection to an introduction server and no public web ports exposed. Sessions support up to four players, including the host. The gaming PC needs a hardware-encoding-capable GPU; Linux hosting also requires x64 and a sufficiently recent distribution. Linux-host HDR is not implemented.