Berty vs Ergo

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureBertyErgo
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageTypeScriptGo
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB64 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 9,268★ 3,288
First released20182016
ReplacesWhatsApp, SignalSlack, Discord

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
Berty details

Choose Ergo if…

  • No external services needed
  • Easy to run
Ergo details

Frequently asked questions

Is Berty or Ergo better?

Neither is universally better. Berty has the larger community, while Ergo is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Berty and Ergo free and open-source?

Yes. Berty is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Ergo under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Berty and Ergo with Docker?

Berty: check the project docs for container support. Ergo: yes.

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