Photon Realtime
8.1#3 in game networking middlewareFrom $0.29 a monthFree planAndroidiOSWebAPI
VisitPhoton Realtime vs Unity
What both publish
| Fact | Photon Realtime | Unity |
|---|---|---|
| Company headquarters | Photon's LinkedIn profile lists Hamburg as headquarters and Hongkongstrasse 7, Hamburg as its primary location. | Unity Technologies is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. |
| Company legal name | Crunchbase identifies the maker's legal name as Exit Games GmbH. | Crunchbase lists the legal name as Unity Technologies, Inc. |
| Company size | LinkedIn lists Photon Engine's company size as 11–50 employees. | Wikipedia lists 4,987 employees in 2024, while Crunchbase categorizes the company in the 1,001–5,000 employee range. |
| Headquarters | Hamburg, Germany | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Integrations | The documented Realtime SDK variants are for Unity and .NET, and Photon’s SDK downloads also include JavaScript and native platform packages. | Unity Integrations connect Cloud Build, Cloud Diagnostics and Collaborate with webhooks, Discord, Slack and email. |
| Licence | The SDK is proprietary under Exit Games end-user licence terms and requires an Exit Games account and App ID; it is not presented as open source. | The Unity Editor is proprietary; Unity source-code access is governed by restricted proprietary terms rather than an open-source license. |
| Product | Photon Realtime is a cloud-hosted networking service for building cross-platform real-time multiplayer games. | Unity Engine is game and app development software for creating video games and immersive experiences from CAD and 3D data. |
Photon Realtime plans
- 20 CCU Development OnlyFree
- Development Only — 20 CCUFree
- Premium Cloud$0.29 a month
- 500 CCU$95 a month
- 100 CCU$95, paid once
- 1000 CCU$185 a month
Unity plans
- Free tierFree
- Pay-as-you-goPriced on request
- Pay-as-you-go—
- Unity PersonalFree
- Unity Pro$210 a month
- Unity Pro$2,310 a year
Pick Photon Realtime if…
Photon Realtime suits multiplayer game developers who need matchmaking, room-based play, and cloud-hosted networking across platforms. Its free development plan is limited to 20 concurrent users, while paid plans address higher usage.
Pick Unity if…
Unity suits game and app developers working across supported platforms, including teams building multiplayer or immersive experiences. Plan choice depends on application type and the stated revenue or funding thresholds.