Asterisk vs Ergo
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
Ergo
Modern IRC server with IRCv3 and bouncer features
| Feature | Asterisk | Ergo |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,431 | ★ 3,288 |
| First released | 1999 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Avaya, Cisco Unified Communications | Slack, Discord |
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 Ergo better?
Neither is universally better. Asterisk has the larger community, while Ergo is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Asterisk and Ergo free and open-source?
Yes. Asterisk is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Ergo under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Asterisk and Ergo with Docker?
Asterisk: yes. Ergo: yes.