Anope vs Charybdis IRCd
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Anope | Charybdis IRCd |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 77 · Good | 7 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 365 | ★ 230 |
| First released | 2003 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Slack | Discord, Slack |
What are Anope and Charybdis IRCd?
Anope
Anope is a set of IRC services that provides NickServ, ChanServ, and related registration features for IRC networks. It works with most major IRCd implementations and supports SQL and LDAP backends.
- NickServ and ChanServ
- Works with many IRCds
- SQL and LDAP integration
- Web panel available
Charybdis IRCd
Charybdis is an IRCv3-capable IRC server daemon descended from ratbox, designed to power large IRC networks. It has been used as the basis for several other IRC server projects and is fully self-hostable.
- IRCv3-capable IRC server
- Designed for large networks
- Basis for other IRC daemons
Anope vs Charybdis IRCd: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Charybdis IRCd's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Anope is actively maintained. Anope is written in C++, while Charybdis IRCd is built with C. Anope is the more established project (first released 2003), while Charybdis IRCd arrived in 2008.
Why pick each one
Choose Anope if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Charybdis IRCd if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Anope or Charybdis IRCd better?
Neither is universally better. Anope has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Anope and Charybdis IRCd free and open-source?
Yes. Anope is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Charybdis IRCd under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Anope and Charybdis IRCd with Docker?
Anope: check the project docs for container support. Charybdis IRCd: check the project docs for container support.