Asterisk vs irssi
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
irssi
Modular terminal IRC client with scripting
| Feature | Asterisk | irssi |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,431 | ★ 3,129 |
| First released | 1999 | 1999 |
| Replaces | Avaya, Cisco Unified Communications | Slack |
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
Choose irssi if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Active community (3.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Asterisk or irssi better?
Neither is universally better. Asterisk has the larger community, while irssi is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Asterisk and irssi free and open-source?
Yes. Asterisk is licensed under GPL-2.0 and irssi under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Asterisk and irssi with Docker?
Asterisk: yes. irssi: check the project docs for container support.