Berty vs Galène

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?
FeatureBertyGalène
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageTypeScriptGo
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 9,268★ 1,372
First released20182020
ReplacesWhatsApp, SignalZoom, Google Meet

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 Galène if…

  • Extremely simple to deploy
  • Efficient on small servers
Galène details

Frequently asked questions

Is Berty or Galène better?

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

Are Berty and Galène free and open-source?

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

Can I run Berty and Galène with Docker?

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

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