Pterodactylvsrustdesk
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Pterodactyl | rustdesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 75/100 | 92/100 |
| Rank in category | #5 of 62 in Game Servers | #1 of 22 in Remote Desktop |
| GitHub stars | 9 438 | 127 369 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +184 | +2 998 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 11 | 7 |
| Latest release | v1.15.2 · 21 Oct 2026 | 1.5.0 · 25 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | PHP | Rust |
Which one should you pick?
rustdesk scores 92/100 against 75/100 for Pterodactyl, so it is the safer default.
Pterodactyl ships more often: 11 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for rustdesk.
If you want the quickest setup, rustdesk is easier to run; Pterodactyl needs more configuration.
rustdesk is growing faster right now (+2 998 stars in 30 days).
Pterodactyl details →rustdesk details →