ARN-Messager vs Berty
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
ARN-Messager
Bot which enables multiple Matrix users to use a single third-party IM
VS
Berty
Peer-to-peer messaging app that works offline
| Feature | ARN-Messager | Berty |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | AGPL-3.0-or-later | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | — | ★ 9,268 |
| First released | 2025 | 2018 |
| Replaces | — | WhatsApp, Signal |
Why pick each one
Choose ARN-Messager if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0-or-later license
- Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Choose Berty if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Mature project with 9.3k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is ARN-Messager or Berty better?
Neither is universally better. Berty has the larger community, while ARN-Messager is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are ARN-Messager and Berty free and open-source?
Yes. ARN-Messager is licensed under AGPL-3.0-or-later and Berty under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run ARN-Messager and Berty with Docker?
ARN-Messager: check the project docs for container support. Berty: check the project docs for container support.