SHSelfHostIndex

Charybdis IRCd 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?
CH Charybdis IRCd IRC server daemon for large networks VS SI SimpleX Chat Private messenger without any user identifiers
FeatureCharybdis IRCdSimpleX Chat
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseGPL-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageCHaskell
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM64 MB256 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 230★ 19,211
First released20082021
ReplacesDiscord, SlackSignal, WhatsApp, Telegram

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 SimpleX Chat if…

  • Best-in-class metadata privacy
  • Run your own relays
SimpleX Chat details

Frequently asked questions

Is Charybdis IRCd 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 Charybdis IRCd and SimpleX Chat free and open-source?

Yes. Charybdis IRCd is licensed under GPL-2.0 and SimpleX Chat under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Charybdis IRCd and SimpleX Chat with Docker?

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

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