Anope vs ircu2
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Anope | ircu2 |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 77 · Good | 51 · Fair |
| 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 | ★ 64 |
| First released | 2003 | 1996 |
| Replaces | Slack | Discord, Slack |
What are Anope and ircu2?
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
ircu2
ircu2 (ircd-undernet) is the IRC server daemon developed for and used by the Undernet IRC network. It can be self-hosted to run an IRC network and supports a feature-rich channel and server model.
- IRC server used by Undernet
- Feature-rich channel model
- Lightweight C daemon
Anope vs ircu2: key differences
Anope is written in C++, while ircu2 is built with C. Ircu2 is the more established project (first released 1996), while Anope arrived in 2003. Anope has the considerably larger community, at 365 GitHub stars versus 64.
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 ircu2 if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Anope or ircu2 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 ircu2 free and open-source?
Yes. Anope is licensed under GPL-2.0 and ircu2 under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Anope and ircu2 with Docker?
Anope: check the project docs for container support. ircu2: check the project docs for container support.