SHSelfHostIndex

Briar vs Chatmail Relay

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?
BR Briar Peer-to-peer encrypted messaging that works offline VS CH Chatmail Relay Minimal email server tuned for Delta Chat messaging
FeatureBriarChatmail Relay
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseGPL-3.0MPL-2.0
LanguageJavaPython
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentsourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 800★ 476
First released20182023
ReplacesSignal, WhatsAppWhatsApp, Signal

Why pick each one

Choose Briar if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Written in Java
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Briar details

Choose Chatmail Relay if…

  • Uses open email standards
  • Hard to censor
Chatmail Relay details

Frequently asked questions

Is Briar or Chatmail Relay better?

Neither is universally better. Briar has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Briar and Chatmail Relay free and open-source?

Yes. Briar is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Chatmail Relay under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Briar and Chatmail Relay with Docker?

Briar: check the project docs for container support. Chatmail Relay: yes.

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