Agones

Linux · Self-hosted · API

Freedom report

Two barsScore 6.3

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely1 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

Agones is ranked #14 of 26 in game backend services on Freedom251. It runs on API, Linux, Self-hosted. There is a free plan.

Agones plans and pricing

All plans

Agones Free Free and open source · runs on Kubernetes · Linux game servers agones.dev · 4 Oct 2026

Compared on game backend services

Multiplayer networking: Yes
Live-ops tools: Yes
Deployment model: self_hosted

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The record

Purpose: Agones is an open source platform for deploying, hosting, scaling, and orchestrating dedicated game servers for large scale multiplayer games on Kubernetes.
Fleet management: It can run and update fleets of game servers without shutting down servers that have active players.
Lifecycle SDK: The integrated game server SDK supports lifecycle management, including health checks, state management, and configuration.
Autoscaling and observability: Agones includes autoscaling capabilities, metrics, and log aggregation for game server sessions.
Supported SDKs: The documented SDKs cover Unreal Engine, Unity, C++, C#, Node.js, Go, Rust, Python, and REST.
Cloud integrations: The installation guide lists Google Kubernetes Engine, Azure Kubernetes Service, Amazon EKS, and Minikube as supported Kubernetes environments.
Kubernetes requirement: Agones 1.61 supports Kubernetes versions 1.34, 1.35, and 1.36; self-managed clusters require the MutatingAdmissionWebhook and ValidatingAdmissionWebhook admission controllers.
Container support: Linux amd64 is stable, while Linux arm64 and Windows amd64 are listed as alpha support.
Security: The project says deployment security depends on correct cluster configuration, including RBAC, network policies, allocator TLS, and node isolation.
Pod security: The SDK sidecar is compatible by default with Kubernetes' restricted Pod Security Standard, but the game server and other pod containers need their own compliant security contexts.
Community support: Users can get community help through Slack, a user mailing list, and community meetings.
Integration requirement: Game servers must integrate an Agones client SDK to manage game server state and health checking.
Operational limit: The FAQ recommends clusters no larger than 500 nodes as a rule of thumb and advises load testing for a game's workload.
Feature maturity: Agones features may be alpha, beta, or stable; alpha features may be buggy, can be dropped without notice, and are recommended only for short-lived test clusters.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Game Backend Services in 2026#14 of 26

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Sources

agones.dev/site/docs/overview/· checked 4 Oct 2026
agones.dev/site/docs/guides/client-sdks/· checked 4 Oct 2026
agones.dev/site/docs/installation/· checked 4 Oct 2026
github.com/agones-dev/agones/security/policy· checked 4 Oct 2026
agones.dev/site/docs/guides/best-practices/· checked 4 Oct 2026
agones.dev/site/community/· checked 4 Oct 2026
agones.dev/site/docs/faq/· checked 4 Oct 2026
agones.dev/site/docs/guides/feature-stages/· checked 4 Oct 2026