harnessvsPterodactyl
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| harness | Pterodactyl | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 80/100 | 75/100 |
| Rank in category | #3 of 28 in CI/CD | #4 of 62 in Game Servers |
| GitHub stars | 38 753 | 9 438 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +319 | +183 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 6 | 11 |
| Latest release | v2.28.2 · 20 Apr 2026 | v1.15.2 · 21 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Easy | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Other |
| Main language | Go | PHP |
Which one should you pick?
harness scores 80/100 against 75/100 for Pterodactyl, so it is the safer default.
Pterodactyl ships more often: 11 stable releases in the past year, against 6 for harness.
If you want the quickest setup, harness is easier to run; Pterodactyl needs more configuration.
harness details →Pterodactyl details →