Anope vs Ergo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Ergo
Modern IRC server with IRCv3 and bouncer features
| Feature | Anope | Ergo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 77 · Good | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 365 | ★ 3,333 |
| First released | 2003 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Slack | Slack, Discord |
What are Anope and Ergo?
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
Ergo
Ergo, formerly known as Oragono, is a modern IRC server written in Go that combines an IRCd with bouncer-like features. It supports IRCv3, has built-in account management, and stores message history.
- Full IRCv3 support
- Built-in account registration
- Persistent message history
- Single binary deployment
Anope vs Ergo: key differences
Anope is written in C++, while Ergo is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Anope versus MIT for Ergo. Anope is the more established project (first released 2003), while Ergo arrived in 2016. Ergo has the considerably larger community, at 3,333 GitHub stars versus 365. Ergo lists first-class Docker deployment; Anope does not.
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 Ergo if…
- No external services needed
- Easy to run
Watch out for
- IRC protocol limitations
- No web UI included
Frequently asked questions
Is Anope or Ergo better?
Neither is universally better. Ergo has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Anope and Ergo free and open-source?
Yes. Anope is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Ergo under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Anope and Ergo with Docker?
Anope: check the project docs for container support. Ergo: yes.