Asterisk vs Remark42
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?
Asterisk
Open-source framework for building telephony systems
VS
Remark42
Privacy-focused lightweight commenting engine
| Feature | Asterisk | Remark42 |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,431 | ★ 5,574 |
| First released | 1999 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Avaya, Cisco Unified Communications | Disqus |
Why pick each one
Choose Asterisk if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Frequently asked questions
Is Asterisk or Remark42 better?
Remark42 is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Asterisk if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Asterisk and Remark42 free and open-source?
Yes. Asterisk is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Remark42 under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Asterisk and Remark42 with Docker?
Asterisk: yes. Remark42: yes.