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Game Development · head to head

Lumberyard vs Photon Engine

Lumberyard logo

Lumberyard

Game Development

Build AAA games with a free, cross-platform engine

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Photon Engine logo

Photon Engine

Game Development

Hosted multiplayer networking billed by concurrent users, not by seat or by player

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Lumberyard aWS Lumberyard free tier has restricted access and is intended for getting started only; Photon Engine billing follows peak concurrent users, so a single stream or a launch weekend raises the bill immediately, and studios that cannot forecast concurrency cannot forecast the cost of their own launch.
  • They diverge on capability: Lumberyard covers CryEngine foundation, Photon Engine covers Concurrent user billing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lumberyard and Photon Engine actually diverge.

Attributes where Lumberyard and Photon Engine differ
AttributeLumberyardPhoton Engine
Pricing modelfreePer month by peak concurrent users
PlatformsWindows, Playstation, Xbox, LinuxWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web, Console
Founded2006Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Game Development).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Lumberyard

  • CryEngine foundation
  • Lua scripting
  • Flowgraph editor
  • Advanced graphics
  • Physics simulation
  • AWS GameLift integration
  • Multiplayer support
  • VR capabilities

Only in Photon Engine

  • Concurrent user billing
  • Photon Fusion
  • Photon Quantum
  • Photon Voice and Chat
  • Global relay
  • Matchmaking and rooms

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Lumberyard

  • Building 3D games with an AWS-integrated enginenot Photon Engine
  • Cloud-connected multiplayer game backendsnot Photon Engine
  • Twitch integration for streamed gameplay featuresnot Photon Engine

Photon Engine

  • Adding multiplayer to a Unity game without hiring a network engineernot Lumberyard
  • Competitive titles needing deterministic rollback rather than state synchronisationnot Lumberyard
  • Games with a large but thinly spread player base, where concurrency stays low and per player pricing would cost morenot Lumberyard
  • Training and simulation projects that need shared real-time state outside gamesnot Lumberyard

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Lumberyard

  • AWS Lumberyard free tier has restricted access and is intended for getting started only
  • Production use requires pay-as-you-go costs that scale with usage
  • Exact pricing depends on specific AWS services consumed and usage levels

Photon Engine

  • Billing follows peak concurrent users, so a single stream or a launch weekend raises the bill immediately, and studios that cannot forecast concurrency cannot forecast the cost of their own launch.
  • Exceeding the band does not degrade gracefully; additional players are refused connections until concurrency falls or the plan is upgraded, which is a visible outage to your players at the worst possible moment.
  • PUN, the product most tutorials and courses still teach, is legacy, so a large share of the learning material available online points new projects at the wrong SDK.
  • Self-hosting is an enterprise arrangement rather than a purchasable licence, so a studio that wants its servers on its own infrastructure for cost or compliance reasons cannot simply buy that.
  • It is a networking layer only; accounts, persistence, leaderboards, inventories and anti-cheat all come from other services, so the multiplayer stack ends up as several vendors rather than one.

Pricing, plan by plan

Lumberyard

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Full engine source
    • AWS integration
    • Lua scripting

Photon Engine

Free
  • FreeFree
    • A small concurrent user allowance for development and early testing
    • All regions available
    • No time limit on the free tier
  • Entry band$9/month
    • Around one hundred concurrent users
    • Full SDK access
    • Regional server selection
  • Higher bands$undefined/month
    • Sold in steps up to tens of thousands of concurrent users
    • Price rises with each band rather than with total players
    • Enterprise and self-hosted arrangements handled directly by Exit Games

Which should you pick?

Choose Lumberyard if

  • You need cryengine foundation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, Playstation, Xbox, Linux.
  • You also want lua scripting.
Lumberyard review

Choose Photon Engine if

  • You need concurrent user billing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web, Console.
  • You also want photon fusion.
Photon Engine review

Questions people ask

Is Lumberyard or Photon Engine better?
Neither clearly leads. Lumberyard starts at Free and Photon Engine at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lumberyard or Photon Engine?
Lumberyard starts at Free and Photon Engine at Free.
Does Lumberyard or Photon Engine run on more platforms?
Lumberyard runs on Windows, Playstation, Xbox, Linux. Photon Engine runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web, Console.
Can I use Lumberyard for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Lumberyard best used for?
Lumberyard is most often used for building 3d games with an aws-integrated engine, cloud-connected multiplayer game backends, twitch integration for streamed gameplay features. Of those, building 3d games with an aws-integrated engine and cloud-connected multiplayer game backends are not what Photon Engine is typically brought in for.
What can Lumberyard do that Photon Engine cannot?
Lumberyard covers CryEngine foundation, Lua scripting, Flowgraph editor, Advanced graphics. Photon Engine covers Concurrent user billing, Photon Fusion, Photon Quantum, Photon Voice and Chat.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Lumberyard: Does AWS Lumberyard cost money?

AWS Lumberyard is not free for production use. The service offers a free tier for getting started, hands-on experience, and development. Production deployments use AWS's pay-as-you-go pricing model where costs scale with your usage.

Source
Photon Engine: What exactly is a concurrent user?

A player connected to Photon at that moment. Your plan is sized by the peak of that number, not by downloads, registered accounts or monthly actives.

Lumberyard: How is AWS Lumberyard priced?

Lumberyard uses AWS's flexible consumption-based pricing. Customers can use the free tier to explore services, then pay for what they use in production. AWS also offers Savings Plans for lower prices on committed usage.

Source
Photon Engine: Which product should a new project use?

Fusion for most real-time games, Quantum where determinism matters such as fighting and competitive titles. PUN is legacy and should not start a new project despite the volume of tutorials.

Photon Engine: Does it work outside Unity?

Unity is the first-class target. Unreal and other engines are supported through Realtime SDKs with less coverage and slower feature parity.

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