SimplyStream and Unreal Engine’s own web target
Both run your game in the player’s browser, on their own GPU. The difference is what you have to build and host yourself, and what is ready to ship today.
Epic released this as Experimental in the Unreal Engine 5.9 Preview on November 9, 2026. Epic says parts of the web renderer are prototypes it plans to rework before 5.9 is final, and that Preview builds should be treated as unstable. Its known issues include crashes above 2 GB of memory and no network driver in the web-ready template.
| SimplyStream | Unreal Engine 5.9 web target | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the game runs | In the player’s browser, on their own GPU. Cloud streaming takes over on devices that can’t run the game. | In the player’s browser: the project is compiled to WebAssembly and drawn with WebGPU, on Unreal’s mobile renderer. You host the files yourself. |
| Engines | Unreal Engine 5.8 and 6, with early Unity support | Unreal Engine 5.9 Preview only, from a source build of the engine, for C++ projects |
| Price | Free plan. $0 a minute in the browser; cloud streaming per minute. Paid plans $25 and $250 a month. | Free with the engine. Hosting and delivery are yours to arrange. |
| One player for an hour | $0 an hour when the game runs in the browser | $0 an hour; the game runs on the player’s device |
| Sign up yourself | Yes | Yes: build the engine from source and package your project for the web. |
Unreal Engine’s own web target details read from its own pages on November 9, 2026. Prices exclude tax.
When Unreal Engine’s own web target is the better choice
- You already build Unreal from source and want to try the engine’s own path, with no service in between.
- Your project is C++, fits the mobile renderer, and stays under 2 GB of memory in the browser.
- You want to host and deliver the files entirely yourself.
When SimplyStream is the better choice
- You want to ship now, on Unreal Engine 5.8 or 6, without building the engine from source.
- You do not want to host the game yourself: Strata builds it, checks it on a real GPU and gives you a link.
- Your game is large. SimplyStream starts it from a small first download and streams the rest as it is needed.
- You are making a multiplayer game: dedicated servers run on SimplyStream too.
- Some of your players have devices that cannot run the game in a browser: cloud streaming takes over for them.
Sources
Something here out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.