Berty vs Metronome IM
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Berty
Peer-to-peer messaging app that works offline
VS
Metronome IM
Lightweight, fork-based XMPP communication server
| Feature | Berty | Metronome IM |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Lua |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,268 | ★ 175 |
| First released | 2018 | 2012 |
| Replaces | WhatsApp, Signal | Slack, WhatsApp |
Why pick each one
Choose Berty if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Mature project with 9.3k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Metronome IM if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Lua
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Berty or Metronome IM better?
Neither is universally better. Berty has the larger community, while Metronome IM is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Berty and Metronome IM free and open-source?
Yes. Berty is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Metronome IM under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Berty and Metronome IM with Docker?
Berty: check the project docs for container support. Metronome IM: yes.