Berty vs Toxic
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Berty | Toxic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 79 · Good |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,305 | ★ 1,305 |
| First released | 2018 | 2014 |
| Replaces | WhatsApp, Signal | Skype, WhatsApp |
What are Berty and Toxic?
Berty
Berty is a secure peer-to-peer messaging application built on the IPFS-based Wesh protocol. It can operate without internet access using local networks and Bluetooth.
- Works without internet via P2P
- End-to-end encryption
- No account or phone number
- Built on IPFS
Toxic
Toxic is a console client for the peer-to-peer, encrypted Tox communication protocol. It provides text chat, file transfer, and audio calls from the terminal with no central servers.
- Terminal-based Tox client
- Fully peer-to-peer
- Encrypted chat and calls
- File transfer support
Berty vs Toxic: key differences
Berty is written in TypeScript, while Toxic is built with C. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Berty versus GPL-3.0 for Toxic. Toxic is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Berty. Toxic is the more established project (first released 2014), while Berty arrived in 2018. Berty has the considerably larger community, at 9,305 GitHub stars versus 1,305.
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
Watch out for
- Still considered experimental
- P2P discovery limitations
Choose Toxic if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Terminal UI only
- No offline messaging
Frequently asked questions
Is Berty or Toxic better?
Neither is universally better. Berty has the larger community, while Toxic is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Berty and Toxic free and open-source?
Yes. Berty is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Toxic under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Berty and Toxic with Docker?
Berty: check the project docs for container support. Toxic: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Berty or Toxic?
Toxic has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Berty. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.