Berty vs WeeChat

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?
FeatureBertyWeeChat
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptC
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB64 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcebare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 9,268★ 3,366
First released20182003
ReplacesWhatsApp, SignalSlack

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 WeeChat if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Active community (3.4k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
WeeChat details

Frequently asked questions

Is Berty or WeeChat better?

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

Are Berty and WeeChat free and open-source?

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

Can I run Berty and WeeChat with Docker?

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

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