# harness vs Nakama

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

| | harness | Nakama |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 80/100 ✓ | 76/100 |
| Rank in category | #3 of 28 in CI/CD | #3 of 62 in Game Servers |
| GitHub stars | 38 746 ✓ | 13 604 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +319 ✓ | +62 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 6 | 9 ✓ |
| Latest release | v2.28.2 · 20 Apr 2026 | v3.41.0 · 18 Sept 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Easy ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Go | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

harness scores 80/100 against 76/100 for Nakama, so it is the safer default.

Nakama ships more often: 9 stable releases in the past year, against 6 for harness.

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

harness is growing faster right now (+319 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [harness](https://selfhost.directory/project/harness) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/harness.md)
- [Nakama](https://selfhost.directory/project/nakama) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/nakama.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/harness-vs-nakama