← Back to nakama Overview
The Showdown

PlayFabvsnakama

Why pay monthly fees for PlayFab when you can self-host nakama for free? Let's look at the facts.

PlayFab

The Expensive Option

  • Closed Source (Black box)
  • Expensive monthly fees per user
  • Data stored on their servers
WINNER

nakama

The Freedom Choice

  • 100% Open Source Code
  • Free forever (Self-hosted)
  • You own your data completely
Get nakama Now
Interactive Calculator

Calculate Your "SaaS Tax"

SaaS pricing is designed to scale with your success. See how much wealth transfers from your bank account to PlayFab's shareholders.

10 people
150100200+
$

*Estimated standard pricing for PlayFab. Adjust if needed.

Estimated Annual Waste
$1,440
Monthly Burn Rate$120
5-Year Projection$7,200
Cost with Self-Hosted$0
Start Saving Today

Calculations based on 10 users at $12/mo.

Detailed Breakdown

0
Scaling managed by provider limits
Horizontal scaling via distributed nodes
1
Restricted to cloud function limits
Embedded Go, Lua, or TS modules
2
Proprietary data silos
Full access to Postgres/CockroachDB