About This Site
An open-source community resource for game developers evaluating backend platforms.
Why This Exists
Choosing a game backend is one of the most consequential infrastructure decisions a game studio makes. Yet most of the information available comes from the vendors themselves — marketing pages, cherry-picked case studies, and feature lists that are hard to compare across platforms.
We built this site to be the resource we wished existed: an honest, objective comparison maintained by the community, not by any single vendor. Every piece of data on this site is backed by public documentation, and anyone can propose changes by submitting a pull request to the open-source repo.
Community-Driven
This site is fully open source. The entire codebase — every platform comparison, feature claim, and architectural assessment — lives in a public GitHub repo that anyone can inspect, fork, and contribute to.
Found something outdated? Think a platform is missing a feature we haven't listed? Spotted a factual error? Open a pull request. Whether you're a game developer, a platform vendor, or just someone who cares about accuracy, your contributions are welcome.
The repository lives at github.com/metaplay-shared/comparegamebackends. See the contribution guide for how pull requests are reviewed.
What We Cover
Educational Content
Guides on retention, monetization, analytics, and the fundamentals of running live service games.
Platform Comparisons
Objective feature comparisons of backend platforms, from full solutions to specialized tools.
Game Type Guides
Specific considerations for F2P mobile, PC/console live service, MMO, and other game types.
Feature Analysis
Deep dives into specific live ops capabilities and how different platforms support them.
Our Approach
1Facts, Not Opinions
Every feature claim links to public documentation. No subjective ratings, no "best of" picks. Each platform has strengths for different use cases — our job is to present the facts so you can decide what matters for your game.
2Open to Correction
No single person or company can be an expert on every platform. That's why this is a community project. If something is wrong or outdated, anyone can fix it — including the platform vendors themselves.
3Live Service Lens
We evaluate platforms specifically for live service game requirements. Some excellent tools handle networking but not live ops — we clearly distinguish between comprehensive platforms and specialized tools.
Published by Metaplay
This site was created and is published by Metaplay, a game backend platform. Yes, Metaplay is one of the platforms compared here. We believe transparency is more valuable than pretending to be neutral from the shadows — so here it is, plainly stated.
We created this resource because we think the game dev community benefits from honest, factual comparisons. If our platform is genuinely good, the facts speak for themselves. And because the repo is open, anyone can hold us accountable if the information is ever skewed.
Staying Current
The game backend space evolves quickly. Platforms add features, pricing changes, and new solutions emerge. Because this is a community project, it stays current through contributions — not through one person trying to track every changelog.
Each platform page shows when it was last updated. If you spot something outdated, submit a pull request or open an issue on GitHub.
Contribute
Want to add a platform, fix an error, or improve the content? The entire site is open source — fork the repo and submit a pull request.