Atheme IRC Services vs Solanum
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 | Solanum |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 59 · Fair | 71 · Good |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | ISC | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 429 | ★ 262 |
| First released | 2005 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Slack | Slack, Discord |
What are Atheme IRC Services and Solanum?
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
Solanum
Solanum is an IRCv3 server daemon descended from the Charybdis lineage. It is the software that powers the Libera.Chat IRC network and is suitable for running large IRC infrastructures.
- Powers Libera.Chat
- IRCv3 protocol support
- Scales to large networks
- Charybdis-derived codebase
Atheme IRC Services vs Solanum: key differences
Both projects are written in C. Licensing differs — ISC for Atheme IRC Services versus GPL-2.0 for Solanum. Atheme IRC Services is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Solanum. Atheme IRC Services is the more established project (first released 2005), while Solanum arrived in 2020.
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 Solanum if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Atheme IRC Services or Solanum better?
Neither is universally better. Atheme IRC Services has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Atheme IRC Services and Solanum free and open-source?
Yes. Atheme IRC Services is licensed under ISC and Solanum under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Atheme IRC Services and Solanum with Docker?
Atheme IRC Services: check the project docs for container support. Solanum: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Atheme IRC Services or Solanum?
Atheme IRC Services has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Solanum. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.