Best Photon Engine Alternatives in 2026
Updated
20 apps from game backend services ranked against Photon Engine on the same published basis.
- 1Photon Engine vs brainCloud
- 2Photon Engine vs Colyseus
- 3Photon Engine vs Edgegap
- 4Photon Engine vs Metaplay
- 5Photon Engine vs Normcore
- 7Photon Engine vs SmartFoxServer
- 8Photon Engine vs AccelByte Gaming Services
- 9Photon Engine vs PlayFab
- 10Photon Engine vs Epic Online Services
- 11Photon Engine vs SpacetimeDB
- 12Photon Engine vs GamePush
- 13Photon Engine vs Talo
- 14Photon Engine vs Agones
- 15Photon Engine vs Nakama
- 16Photon Engine vs GameFabric
- 17Photon Engine vs Open Match
- 18Photon Engine vs Satori
- 19Photon Engine vs Steamworks
- 20Photon Engine vs Amazon GameLift Servers
- 21Photon Engine vs Beamable
Photon Engine alternatives compared
| # | App | Score | Free plan | From | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | brainCloud | 6.8 | Free plan | $15/mo | Android, API, iOS, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 2 | Colyseus | 6.8 | Free plan | $15/mo | Android, API, iOS, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 3 | Edgegap | 6.8 | No | $0.03/mo | Android, API, iOS, Linux, Mac, Web, Windows |
| 4 | Metaplay | 6.8 | Free plan | €195/mo | Android, API, iOS, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 5 | Normcore | 6.8 | Free plan | $49/mo | Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 7 | SmartFoxServer | 6.8 | Free plan | €32.50/mo | Android, API, Browser, iOS, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 8 | AccelByte Gaming Services | 6.7 | Free plan | $1,500/mo | Android, API, iOS, Linux, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 9 | PlayFab | 6.7 | Free plan | $99/mo | Web, Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android |
| 10 | Epic Online Services | 6.6 | Free plan | Free | Android, API, iOS, Linux, Mac, Windows |
| 11 | SpacetimeDB | 6.6 | Free plan | $25/mo | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 12 | GamePush | 6.5 | Free plan | $5.99/mo | Android, API, Web |
| 13 | Talo | 6.4 | Free plan | $24.99/mo | API, self-hosted, Web |
| 14 | Agones | 6.3 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, self-hosted |
| 15 | Nakama | 5.3 | No | — | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 16 | GameFabric | 5.1 | No | — | Web |
| 17 | Open Match | 5.1 | No | — | — |
| 18 | Satori | 4.9 | No | — | Web, iOS, Android |
| 19 | Steamworks | 4.9 | No | — | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 20 | Amazon GameLift Servers | 4.8 | No | — | Web |
| 21 | Beamable | 4.8 | No | — | Web |
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Questions about Photon Engine alternatives
What is the best alternative to Photon Engine?
brainCloud, number 1 in game backend services with a score of 6.8 out of 10. The others here: Colyseus, Edgegap, Metaplay and 16 more.
What is the best free alternative to Photon Engine?
brainCloud is the best-ranked alternative with a free plan. 12 of the 20 alternatives here publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
How are these alternatives ranked?
Ranked free-and-open first: a usable free tier and open-source code, then the platforms it runs on and its documentation.