Comparison

Pelican is a free, open-source game server control panel built on modern Laravel and Filament. It started as a fork of Pterodactyl and has since grown well beyond it.

Why Pelican?

• Make it yours with plugins and themes from the Hub
• Up and running in minutes with Docker or the web installer
• Modern logins with passkeys, OAuth (11 providers) and two-factor authentication
• Give staff exactly the access they need with admin roles and permissions
• Speak your users' language with 32 languages, translated by the community
• Keep backups safe on S3 or local storage, configured per node

Already on Pterodactyl?

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Try it yourself

See everything below in action on our Demo!

What's new compared to Pterodactyl

General

• First party Plugin system
• Roles & Permissions for Admins
• Webhooks
• Health page (cache, database, queue, scheduler, disk and version checks)
• Your own logo and favicon
• Replace Nests & Locations with Tags
• Improved Settings page
• Customization for Users (e.g. Server list layout, Console font)
• Config option for Binary Prefix (MiB/GiB)
• Rework allocations
• More database types for Database Hosts

Frontend

• Rewrite of Client Area in Filament
• Rewrite of Admin Area in Filament
• Available in 32 languages, translated by the community
• Light and dark mode
• User avatars
• Timezone configurable per User
• Switch from Webpack to Vite

API

• Integrated API docs
• Application API for Database Hosts
• Application API for Server Transfers
• Application API for Mounts
• Uniform user transformers
• Rename oom_disabled to oom_killer

Auth

• Passkeys
• OAuth with 11 providers, plus automatic account creation and linking
• Email two-factor alongside TOTP
• Replace Google reCAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile

Setup

• Easier Installation process (Web Installer)
• Dockerized Installation
• Egg selection during install
• PostgreSQL as Panel database
• SQLite as Panel database
• "Proper" support for MariaDB as Panel database (dedicated driver)
• Easier Database Host setup via Step-by-Step Wizard

Server

• Server icons
• Per-server webhooks
• Backup-completed notifications
• Global search for files
• View install logs from within the Panel
• Activity log for server crashes
• Easier Schedule Cron setup
• "Delete files" schedule task
• Servers without Allocations
• IPv6 Support for Allocations
• Custom docker labels for server containers
• Delete backups when server is deleted
• Server sorting

Node

• Multiple backup hosts (local or S3), assigned per node
• Node diagnostics and one-click log upload
• Node resource statistics
• Node Ownership (assign nodes to roles)
• Disk quotas for servers
• CPU Limit for Nodes
• Automatically fetch Node IPs for easier Allocation setup
• Better proxy support
• Alias for SFTP address
• Automatic cleanup of dangling docker images
• Fixed -1 overallocation

Eggs

• Browse and import eggs from the panel
• Multiple startup commands per egg, selectable by users
• Easier Egg updating (usage of update_url)
• Import multiple eggs at once
• Sortable egg variables
• Change Egg format to YAML

Hub

• Marketplace for Plugins & Themes
• Marketplace for Eggs
• Open Finances
• Support Tickets

Pelican vs other panels

	Pelican	Pterodactyl	PufferPanel	Crafty Controller	TCAdmin	AMP	Calagopus
Free and Open Source	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
Plugins & Marketplace	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌
Themes	✅*	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌
Roles & Permissions	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Webhooks	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅	❌
Sign In with Steam	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Passkeys	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Light & Dark Mode	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Web Installer	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Captcha Login	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Remote Backups	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Database Management	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅
Scheduled Tasks	✅	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
Docker Install	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Database Choice	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Announcements	✅*	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅
Self Update	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌

* 1st Party Plugin support maintained by Pelican team

Notes

• Plugins can add any features that Pelican doesn't have by default.
• Last Updated on 2026-10-11