Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

XInput VS Photon Engine

Compare XInput VS Photon Engine and see what are their differences

XInput logo XInput

XInput is an API that allows applications to receive input from the Xbox Controller for Windows.

Photon Engine logo Photon Engine

Independent networking engine and multiplayer platform.
  • XInput Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-27
  • Photon Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-25

XInput videos

Redgear Pro Wireless Gamepad | Review after 1 yr | Best Controller | Xinput vs Direct Input

More videos:

  • Review - Razer Raiju Review - Best PS4 and PC Xinput Controller?
  • Review - Steelseries Stratus XL for Windows and Android Bluetooth Game Controller Review - Supports Xinput

Photon Engine videos

Unet vs Photon Engine - A comparison

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to XInput and Photon Engine)
Game Development
47 47%
53% 53
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Game Engine
100 100%
0% 0
3D Game Engine
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using XInput and Photon Engine. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, XInput should be more popular than Photon Engine. It has been mentiond 3 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

XInput mentions (3)

  • what is your unpopular opinion regarding simracing?
    DirectInput dates back to the Win9x days, and the current implementation dates back to the WinXP days. It's officially deprecated by Microsoft, which basically means "stop using it for new development." Its replacements are XInput (the Xbox controller API) and a similar API called Windows.Gaming.Input, intended for UWP applications. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Looking for steering wheels that uses XInput on PC?
    For those unfamiliar with the XInput standard https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/xinput/xinput-and-directinput. Source: over 1 year ago
  • odd wheel base hardware
    I have experience making Teensy joysticks, so the hardware/firmware side is covered. I'm happy to hear DirectInput is still being used contrary to MS advice https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/xinput/xinput-and-directinput Https://github.com/redragonx/can2rNET provides the interface to wheelchair control system. Source: over 2 years ago

Photon Engine mentions (2)

  • 'Foxhole' players launch organised in-game strike to demand change
    Source: photonengine.com (provides server networking and hosting for tens of millions of daily users on steam and other platforms). Source: over 2 years ago
  • steam vs itch.io
    With Steam you get 70% of the money you make from your game, and it costs $100 to put your game on the platform. But you get stuff like Steam Networking, VAC, Steam Achievements, etc. You might also get more sales if you put your game on Steam. With itch.io however, you get 100% of the money you make, and it's free to put your game on the platform. The problem is you will get less players than if you were to put... Source: over 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing XInput and Photon Engine, you can also consider the following products

Amazon GameLift - Amazon Gamelift is a dedicated server platform for online video gaming. Notable customers include High Horse Entertainment, Wargaming Mobile, Gearbox Software, Aon Interactive and Proletariat, Inc... read more.

Nakama - Nakama is an open-source distributed social and realtime server for games and apps.

BitBucket - Bitbucket is a free code hosting site for Mercurial and Git. Manage your development with a hosted wiki, issue tracker and source code.

PlayFab - PlayFab is a backend platform for games, delivering powerful real-time tools and services for LiveOps.

LibGDX - Libgdx is a Java game development framework that provides a unified API that works across all...

Unity Multiplayer - Create real-time, networked games.