Pterodactyl

Web panel for hosting companies and communities to create and manage game servers, each running in its own Docker container.

9.5k stars, 2.8k forks PHP On GitHub since December 2015

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

Pterodactyl at a glance

Open sourceYes, MITNo paid parts in the repository
Health56 of 100Actively developed
Self-hostingDockerOne-click in YunoHost, TrueNAS and 2 more
InterfaceEnglish onlyNo translation files found
Issue repliesWithin ~2 hoursMedian first reply; 30% of recent issues answered

What is Pterodactyl?

Pterodactyl is a control panel for running game servers on your own hardware. The panel is written in PHP with a React interface, and a separate Go daemon called Wings handles the machines where servers live. Every game server runs in an isolated Docker container, which keeps the host free of per-game dependencies. Official support covers titles such as Minecraft (including Paper, Sponge and Bungeecord), Rust, Terraria, Team Fortress 2, Garry's Mod and ARK: Survival Evolved, plus voice servers like TeamSpeak and Mumble. The community adds more, including Factorio, Squad and Discord bots written in Node.js or Python.

Good fit if

  • You rent out game servers or run them for a gaming group and want a self-hosted panel instead of a paid commercial one.
  • You want users to manage their own servers while each stays isolated in a container.
  • You host several different games and voice services on the same machines.

Look elsewhere if

  • You want to stream games from a home PC to other devices rather than host multiplayer servers: Sunshine.
  • You want to organize and play a ROM collection in the browser: RomM.

Before you adopt it

Pterodactyl is MIT-licensed, and no paid parts appear in the repository; sponsors, several of them hosting providers, help fund development. Activity on the stable line is light, with 8 commits from 5 authors in the last 90 days and v1.15.2 released in October 2026. A v2 beta with a reworked admin area and a built-in extension SDK is in progress on a separate branch, while 1.0-develop remains the stable release line. Setup involves both the panel and Wings, with MySQL and Redis in the compose file, so plan for more than one component.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 7 November 2026. Report a correction

How to run Pterodactyl yourself

One-click install

Not listed in Umbrel, Unraid, CasaOS and Runtipi. Checked against each panel’s app catalog on 12 November 2026.

Ways to install

Docker files
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Docker image
ghcr.io/pterodactyl/panel: x86-64, ARM64
Compose file
docker-compose.example.yml: 3 services (mysql, redis)
Setup effort
2 of 5, judged from the compose file
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
No app builds in GitHub releases
Interface languages
English only

Install instructions: pterodactyl.io or the README on GitHub. Docker images and packages are checked weekly.

Pterodactyl health: is it still maintained?

56 of 100, actively developed

Release rhythmEvery ~37 days11 releases in 12 months; latest v1.15.2
Issue repliesWithin ~2 hoursMedian first reply; 30% of recent issues answered
Bus factorMedium riskThe most active of 4 authors wrote 50% of recent commits
  • Activity
    6 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 21 October 2026.
    10 / 30
  • Contributors
    4 people wrote the 6 commits of the last 90 days; the most active wrote 50% of them.
    9 / 20
  • Releases
    11 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v1.15.2, on 21 October 2026.
    18 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 30% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 2 hours.
    14 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 12 November 2026. How the score works

Pterodactyl security

Security advisories are the vulnerabilities the maintainers disclosed on GitHub, with the versions that fix them; many advisories can mean careful disclosure as much as weak code.

Security advisories24 published3 critical, 8 high; 23 list a fixed version

Latest advisories

All 24 advisories on GitHub

Advisories read from GitHub on 12 November 2026.

Pterodactyl license: is it open source?

Pterodactyl uses MIT, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. December 2015First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayMIT.

Pterodactyl for developers

Written in

  • PHP 65%
  • TypeScript 21%
  • Blade 12%
  • CSS 1%
  • JavaScript 1%
  • Other <1%

Getting involved

Contributing guideYesCONTRIBUTING.mdOpen issues122On GitHub
Authors, 90 days4Of 6 commits
DonationsGitHub SponsorsListed on GitHub

Language shares are GitHub’s count of the code in the repository.

Alternatives to Pterodactyl

  • LinuxGSMThe command-line tool for quick, simple deployment and management of Linux dedicated game servers. 71 health · MIT · 4.9k stars
  • SunshineSelf-hosted game stream host for Moonlight. 84 health · GPL-3.0 · 43.3k stars
  • RomMA beautiful, powerful, self-hosted ROM manager and player. 74 health · AGPL-3.0 · 14.3k stars

All 7 projects in Games & game servers

Questions about Pterodactyl

Is Pterodactyl open source?

Yes. Pterodactyl is published under MIT, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is Pterodactyl still maintained?

Its health score is 56 of 100 (actively developed). It had 6 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 21 October 2026, and its latest release came out on 21 October 2026.

How do I run Pterodactyl?

You can run it with the Docker image ghcr.io/pterodactyl/panel and in one click from YunoHost, TrueNAS, Proxmox VE Helper-Scripts and 1 more. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What is Pterodactyl written in?

Pterodactyl is written mainly in PHP (65% of the code), with TypeScript (21%) and Blade (12%), by GitHub’s count of the repository.

What are the alternatives to Pterodactyl?

Close alternatives in the Games & game servers category include LinuxGSM, Sunshine, RomM.