Atheme IRC Services vs Miaou
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Atheme IRC Services | Miaou |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 59 · Fair | 65 · Good |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | ISC | MIT |
| Language | C | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 429 | ★ 553 |
| First released | 2005 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Slack | Discord, Slack |
What are Atheme IRC Services and Miaou?
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
Miaou
Miaou is a real-time chat server geared toward developer communities, with markdown formatting, syntax-highlighted code blocks, polls, and per-room moderation. It is the software behind the public Miaou chat used by Rust developers.
- Markdown and code-block friendly chat
- Multi-room with moderation
- OAuth login support
- Popular with developer communities
Atheme IRC Services vs Miaou: key differences
Atheme IRC Services is written in C, while Miaou is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — ISC for Atheme IRC Services versus MIT for Miaou. Atheme IRC Services is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Miaou. Atheme IRC Services is the more established project (first released 2005), while Miaou arrived in 2014.
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 Miaou if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Atheme IRC Services or Miaou better?
Miaou 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 Miaou free and open-source?
Yes. Atheme IRC Services is licensed under ISC and Miaou under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Atheme IRC Services and Miaou with Docker?
Atheme IRC Services: check the project docs for container support. Miaou: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Atheme IRC Services or Miaou?
Atheme IRC Services has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Miaou. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.