Briar vs SimpleX Chat
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?
Compare Briar with
choose an app… Chatwoot Etherpad Tinode Centrifugo Screego Typebot Berty Mumble ejabberd The Lounge Papercups qTox Synapse FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge MongooseIM Toxic Syphon Delta Chat Element X mautrix-signal Session Chatmail Chatmail Relay SchildiChat Snikket Tigase XMPP Server Wesh Network Metronome IM Monocles Chat Prose
Compare SimpleX Chat with
choose an app… Plane Chatwoot Focalboard Super Productivity Wekan Etherpad OpenProject Habitica Self-Hosted Tinode Planka Leantime Centrifugo Screego Typebot git-bug Kanboard Berty Mumble Kaneo ejabberd The Lounge Papercups Taskwarrior Zammad WorkAdventure Soketi Remark42 Isso FreeSWITCH qTox MiroTalk Synapse Ferdium FreeScout Telegram Bot API Server Rustpad Asterisk WeeChat Ergo irssi FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Kamailio Cusdis Tox Stoat AnyCable Chitchatter Live Helper Chat Spacebar Nextcloud Talk Indico RetroShare SIPCAPTURE Homer Peer-calls MongooseIM mautrix-telegram Routr GlobaLeaks openSIPS mautrix Databag Galène InspIRCd Candy Toxic Hyphanet Syphon FusionPBX soju KiwiIRC Glowing Bear Bonfire Pretalx Delta Chat Element X Notifo SimpleX Quassel IRC OTS matrix-commander Mumble Web Comentario mautrix-signal BitlBee ngIRCd Miaou Session Nextcloud Talk Signaling Server UnrealIRCd MiroTalk C2C matrix-appservice-irc Linphone Chatmail Chatmail Relay SchildiChat Hookshot Snikket Atheme IRC Services Maunium Sticker Picker Spectrum 2 Shhh Gamja Jami Server Bridge Mollysocket Anope PushBits Tigase XMPP Server Comm Heisenbridge Slixmpp Ferdium Server Solanum Wesh Network Draupnir baibot matrix-media-repo Charybdis IRCd Zusam Cactus Comments ircd-hybrid Scuttlebutt Room Robust IRC Flexisip Metronome IM SAMA Biboumi Monocles Chat Hebbot ircu2 Prose Libervia Jami YunoHost Mail Relay 3CX ARN-Messager Freepbx GNUnet Groupboard MailBag Mailman3 Mailing List Manager Mlmmj Web Peachpub PrivMX WebMail SIP3 TrueConf Wazo Yeti-Switch
Feature Briar SimpleX Chat Category Chat & Communication Chat & Communication License GPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0 Language Java Haskell Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 128 MB 256 MB Deployment source docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 800 ★ 19,211 First released 2018 2021 Replaces Signal, WhatsApp Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram
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
Frequently asked questions Is Briar or SimpleX Chat better? Neither is universally better. SimpleX Chat has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Briar and SimpleX Chat free and open-source? Yes. Briar is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SimpleX Chat under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Briar and SimpleX Chat with Docker? Briar: check the project docs for container support. SimpleX Chat: yes.