Bonfire vs Miaou
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?
Bonfire
Federated social networking toolkit for communities
VS
Miaou
Self-hosted multi-room chat with markdown and code blocks
| Feature | Bonfire | Miaou |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Elixir | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 930 | ★ 553 |
| First released | 2020 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Facebook Groups, Discord | Discord, Slack |
Why pick each one
Choose Bonfire if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Elixir
Choose Miaou if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Bonfire or Miaou better?
Neither is universally better. Bonfire has the larger community, while Miaou is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Bonfire and Miaou free and open-source?
Yes. Bonfire is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Miaou under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bonfire and Miaou with Docker?
Bonfire: yes. Miaou: check the project docs for container support.