LinuxGSM review 2026: free open-source command-line tool to install and manage Linux dedicated game servers. Features, supported games, alternatives.
LinuxGSM (Linux Game Server Managers) is a free, open-source, BASH-based command-line tool for installing, updating, and managing dedicated Linux game servers. It was created by Daniel Gibbs in 2012 and is maintained by a volunteer community under the GameServerManagers GitHub organization.
Unlike web-panel tools such as Pterodactyl or AMP, LinuxGSM has no GUI, database, or daemon process. It is a lightweight set of scripts, with one script instance per game server, designed to be fast, easy to debug, and compatible with almost any Linux distribution.
LinuxGSM's installer checks dependencies, downloads game server files (via SteamCMD, JSON manifests, or file archives), and loads default configs so a server can be running within minutes. Standardized commands like start, stop, update, backup, and monitor work identically across all 139-plus supported games.
A built-in monitor detects crashes and can auto-restart servers, with alerts deliverable via email, Discord, Slack, Telegram, Pushbullet, Pushover, IFTTT, or Mailgun, giving administrators visibility without constant manual log-watching.
LinuxGSM is completely free and open source under the MIT License, with no paid tiers, subscriptions, or feature gates. The only cost to users is the underlying Linux server infrastructure they run it on.
Because there is no vendor lock-in or licensing cost, it is commonly bundled into one-click game server deployment options by third-party VPS and hosting providers at no extra software cost.
Yes, LinuxGSM is completely free and open source under the MIT License with no paid tiers or subscriptions.
LinuxGSM supports more than 139 different dedicated game servers, including popular titles like Counter-Strike 2, Rust, Minecraft, and ARK, with more added over time.
No, LinuxGSM is a command-line-only tool with no built-in web GUI, database, or daemon, which keeps it lightweight but requires comfort with SSH and terminal usage.
LinuxGSM was created by Daniel Gibbs in 2012 and is now maintained by a volunteer community under the GameServerManagers GitHub organization.
LinuxGSM is a lightweight command-line tool with no GUI or database, while Pterodactyl is a full web-based panel with multi-user permissions and a graphical dashboard, at the cost of higher setup complexity and resource usage.
Yes, its monitoring system can detect crashes and automatically restart servers, and it can send alerts via email, Discord, Slack, Telegram, Pushbullet, Pushover, IFTTT, or Mailgun.