Atheme IRC Services vs Ergo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Ergo
Modern IRC server with IRCv3 and bouncer features
| Feature | Atheme IRC Services | Ergo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 59 · Fair | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | ISC | MIT |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 429 | ★ 3,333 |
| First released | 2005 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Slack | Slack, Discord |
What are Atheme IRC Services and Ergo?
Atheme IRC Services
Atheme is a set of IRC services designed for large and highly scalable IRC networks. It provides account registration, channel management, and a flexible modular architecture.
- Scales to large networks
- Modular service design
- Account and channel management
- Used by historic IRC networks
Ergo
Ergo, formerly known as Oragono, is a modern IRC server written in Go that combines an IRCd with bouncer-like features. It supports IRCv3, has built-in account management, and stores message history.
- Full IRCv3 support
- Built-in account registration
- Persistent message history
- Single binary deployment
Atheme IRC Services vs Ergo: key differences
Atheme IRC Services is written in C, while Ergo is built with Go. Licensing differs — ISC for Atheme IRC Services versus MIT for Ergo. Atheme IRC Services is the more established project (first released 2005), while Ergo arrived in 2016. Ergo has the considerably larger community, at 3,333 GitHub stars versus 429. Ergo lists first-class Docker deployment; Atheme IRC Services does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Atheme IRC Services if…
- Released under the ISC license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Ergo if…
- No external services needed
- Easy to run
Watch out for
- IRC protocol limitations
- No web UI included
Frequently asked questions
Is Atheme IRC Services or Ergo better?
Ergo is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Atheme IRC Services if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Atheme IRC Services and Ergo free and open-source?
Yes. Atheme IRC Services is licensed under ISC and Ergo under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Atheme IRC Services and Ergo with Docker?
Atheme IRC Services: check the project docs for container support. Ergo: yes.