Chatwoot
Chat & CommunicationOpen-source customer engagement and live-chat platform
Replaces Intercom, Zendesk
Best API Chat & Communication for self-hosting
The 21 best API chat & communication you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
Etherpad
Chat & CommunicationReal-time collaborative document editor
Replaces Google Docs
Centrifugo
Chat & CommunicationScalable real-time messaging server for apps and websites
Replaces Pusher, Firebase Realtime Database
Papercups
Chat & CommunicationOpen-source live chat and customer messaging
Replaces Intercom, Drift
Zammad
Chat & CommunicationWeb-based helpdesk and customer support system
Replaces Zendesk, Freshdesk
Soketi
Chat & CommunicationSelf-hostable WebSocket server compatible with Pusher
Replaces Pusher
FreeSWITCH
Chat & CommunicationScalable software telephony platform
Replaces Twilio, Asterisk
FreeScout
Chat & CommunicationFree self-hosted help desk and shared inbox
Replaces Help Scout, Zendesk
Telegram Bot API Server
Chat & CommunicationSelf-hosted local Telegram Bot API server
Asterisk
Chat & CommunicationOpen-source framework for building telephony systems
Replaces Avaya, Cisco Unified Communications
AnyCable
Chat & CommunicationReal-time WebSocket server for in-app messaging
Replaces Pusher, Ably
Spacebar
Chat & CommunicationSelf-hostable, open-source Discord-compatible chat backend
Replaces Discord
mautrix-telegram
Chat & CommunicationMatrix-Telegram puppeting bridge
Replaces Telegram official client
mautrix
Chat & CommunicationCollection of Matrix bridges for popular chat networks
Replaces Beeper
FusionPBX
Chat & CommunicationMulti-tenant web GUI for FreeSWITCH
Replaces 3CX, RingCentral
matrix-commander
Chat & CommunicationCommand-line tool for sending and receiving Matrix messages
Replaces Slack CLI
Hookshot
Chat & CommunicationMatrix bridge for GitHub, GitLab, Jira and webhooks
Replaces Slack
Slixmpp
Chat & CommunicationXMPP library for building bots and chat extensions
Replaces Slack apps
Ferdium Server
Chat & CommunicationSelf-hosted backend for syncing Ferdium settings
Replaces Franz Server
baibot
Chat & CommunicationSelf-hosted AI assistant bot for Matrix rooms
Replaces Slack AI assistants
matrix-media-repo
Chat & CommunicationStandalone media storage for Matrix homeservers
Replaces Slack file storage
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chatwoot | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 2,048 MB | MIT | 37,766 |
| Etherpad | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | Apache-2.0 | 18,587 |
| Centrifugo | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | MIT | 10,865 |
| Papercups | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 1,024 MB | MIT | 6,116 |
| Zammad | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 4,096 MB | AGPL-3.0 | 6,011 |
| Soketi | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 128 MB | AGPL-3.0 | 5,636 |
| FreeSWITCH | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 512 MB | MPL-2.0 | 5,227 |
| FreeScout | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 1,024 MB | AGPL-3.0 | 4,596 |
| Telegram Bot API Server | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | BSL-1.0 | 4,484 |
| Asterisk | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 256 MB | GPL-2.0 | 3,618 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: Chatwoot (37,766 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: matrix-commander (from 64 MB RAM, against 4,096 MB for the heaviest here).
- Licensing: 7 of 21 use AGPL-3.0; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged API within the chat & communication category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.