SHSelfHostIndex

Centrifugo vs OTS

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?
CE Centrifugo Scalable real-time messaging server for apps and websites VS OT OTS One-Time-Secret sharing platform with a symmetric 256bit AES
FeatureCentrifugoOTS
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseMITApache-2.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarybare-metal
GitHub stars★ 10,590★ 777
First released20152026
ReplacesPusher, Firebase Realtime Database—

Why pick each one

Choose Centrifugo if…

  • Handles many connections
  • Easy to integrate
Centrifugo details

Choose OTS if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Written in Go
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
OTS details

Frequently asked questions

Is Centrifugo or OTS better?

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

Are Centrifugo and OTS free and open-source?

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

Can I run Centrifugo and OTS with Docker?

Centrifugo: yes. OTS: check the project docs for container support.

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