# checkmate vs Pterodactyl

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | checkmate | Pterodactyl |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 72/100 | 75/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #15 of 104 in Monitoring & observability | #4 of 62 in Game Servers |
| GitHub stars | 11 007 ✓ | 9 438 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +120 | +183 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 15 ✓ | 11 |
| Latest release | v3.13.1 · 22 Oct 2026 ✓ | v1.15.2 · 21 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Easy ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Other |
| Main language | Typescript | PHP |

## Which one should you pick?

Pterodactyl scores 75/100 against 72/100 for checkmate, so it is the safer default.

checkmate ships more often: 15 stable releases in the past year, against 11 for Pterodactyl.

If you want the quickest setup, checkmate is easier to run; Pterodactyl needs more configuration.

## Details

- [checkmate](https://selfhost.directory/project/checkmate) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/checkmate.md)
- [Pterodactyl](https://selfhost.directory/project/pterodactyl) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/pterodactyl.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/checkmate-vs-pterodactyl