Centrifugo vs The Lounge

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?
FeatureCentrifugoThe Lounge
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageGoTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 10,590★ 6,309
First released20152014
ReplacesPusher, Firebase Realtime DatabaseIRCCloud, Slack

Why pick each one

Choose Centrifugo if…

  • Handles many connections
  • Easy to integrate
Centrifugo details

Choose The Lounge if…

  • Great IRC experience in the browser
  • Multi-user support
The Lounge details

Frequently asked questions

Is Centrifugo or The Lounge better?

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

Are Centrifugo and The Lounge free and open-source?

Yes. Centrifugo is licensed under MIT and The Lounge under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Centrifugo and The Lounge with Docker?

Centrifugo: yes. The Lounge: yes.

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