Bonfire 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?
Compare Bonfire with
choose an app… Chatwoot Etherpad Element Web Spectrum Centrifugo Screego Typebot Berty Mumble The Lounge Papercups Dendrite Synapse Cinny Ergo Revolt Tox Nheko Conduit Spacebar gomuks Elgg InspIRCd Syphon KiwiIRC Dendrite Lite Fractal Mumble Web Continuwuity Miaou Buddycloud
Compare SimpleX Chat with
choose an app… Plane Chatwoot Focalboard Super Productivity Wekan Etherpad OpenProject Habitica Self-Hosted Tinode Planka Leantime Centrifugo Screego Typebot git-bug Kanboard Berty Mumble Kaneo ejabberd The Lounge Papercups Taskwarrior Zammad WorkAdventure Soketi Remark42 Isso FreeSWITCH qTox MiroTalk Synapse Ferdium FreeScout Telegram Bot API Server Rustpad Asterisk WeeChat Ergo irssi FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Kamailio Cusdis Tox Stoat AnyCable Chitchatter Live Helper Chat Spacebar Nextcloud Talk Indico RetroShare SIPCAPTURE Homer Peer-calls MongooseIM mautrix-telegram Routr GlobaLeaks openSIPS mautrix Databag Galène InspIRCd Candy Toxic Hyphanet Syphon FusionPBX soju KiwiIRC Glowing Bear Pretalx Delta Chat Element X Notifo SimpleX Briar Quassel IRC OTS matrix-commander Mumble Web Comentario mautrix-signal BitlBee ngIRCd Miaou Session Nextcloud Talk Signaling Server UnrealIRCd MiroTalk C2C matrix-appservice-irc Linphone Chatmail Chatmail Relay SchildiChat Hookshot Snikket Atheme IRC Services Maunium Sticker Picker Spectrum 2 Shhh Gamja Jami Server Bridge Mollysocket Anope PushBits Tigase XMPP Server Comm Heisenbridge Slixmpp Ferdium Server Solanum Wesh Network Draupnir baibot matrix-media-repo Charybdis IRCd Zusam Cactus Comments ircd-hybrid Scuttlebutt Room Robust IRC Flexisip Metronome IM SAMA Biboumi Monocles Chat Hebbot ircu2 Prose Libervia Jami YunoHost Mail Relay 3CX ARN-Messager Freepbx GNUnet Groupboard MailBag Mailman3 Mailing List Manager Mlmmj Web Peachpub PrivMX WebMail SIP3 TrueConf Wazo Yeti-Switch
Feature Bonfire SimpleX Chat Category Chat & Communication Chat & Communication License AGPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0 Language Elixir Haskell Setup difficulty Hard Medium Min. RAM 1,024 MB 256 MB Deployment docker, source docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 930 ★ 19,211 First released 2020 2021 Replaces Facebook Groups, Discord Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram
Why pick each one
Choose Bonfire if… Released under the AGPL-3.0 license First-class Docker support for quick deployment Written in Elixir Bonfire details
Frequently asked questions Is Bonfire or SimpleX Chat better? SimpleX Chat is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Bonfire if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Bonfire and SimpleX Chat free and open-source? Yes. Bonfire is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and SimpleX Chat under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bonfire and SimpleX Chat with Docker? Bonfire: yes. SimpleX Chat: yes.