Charybdis IRCd vs Chatwoot

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?
FeatureCharybdis IRCdChatwoot
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseGPL-2.0MIT
LanguageCRuby
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM64 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, kubernetes, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 230★ 35,596
First released20082019
ReplacesDiscord, SlackIntercom, Zendesk, Drift

Why pick each one

Choose Charybdis IRCd if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Written in C
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Charybdis IRCd details

Choose Chatwoot if…

  • Polished customer support workflow
  • Active development
Chatwoot details

Frequently asked questions

Is Charybdis IRCd or Chatwoot better?

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

Are Charybdis IRCd and Chatwoot free and open-source?

Yes. Charybdis IRCd is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Chatwoot under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Charybdis IRCd and Chatwoot with Docker?

Charybdis IRCd: check the project docs for container support. Chatwoot: yes.

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