Berty vs Linphone

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?
FeatureBertyLinphone
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptC++
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcebinary, source
GitHub stars★ 9,268★ 500
First released20182001
ReplacesWhatsApp, SignalSkype, Zoom

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 Linphone if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Linphone details

Frequently asked questions

Is Berty or Linphone better?

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

Are Berty and Linphone free and open-source?

Yes. Berty is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Linphone under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Berty and Linphone with Docker?

Berty: check the project docs for container support. Linphone: check the project docs for container support.

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