Isso vs Papercups
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 Isso with
choose an app… Chatwoot SimpleX Chat Etherpad giscus Centrifugo Screego Typebot Utterances Berty Mumble The Lounge Zammad WorkAdventure Soketi Remark42 FreeSWITCH qTox MiroTalk Ferdium FreeScout Telegram Bot API Server Rustpad Commento Asterisk WeeChat Ergo irssi Cusdis Coral Schnack Talkyard webmention.io Bridgy Mouthful Comentario Cactus Comments
Compare Papercups with
choose an app… Plane Chatwoot Focalboard Super Productivity Wekan SimpleX Chat Etherpad OpenProject Habitica Self-Hosted Planka Leantime Centrifugo Screego Typebot git-bug Kanboard Berty Mumble Kaneo The Lounge Taskwarrior Zammad WorkAdventure Soketi Remark42 FreeSWITCH qTox MiroTalk Ferdium FreeScout Telegram Bot API Server Rustpad Erxes Asterisk WeeChat Ergo irssi Quicksy Bridge Kamailio Cusdis Libredesk Tox Stoat AnyCable Chitchatter Live Helper Chat Spacebar Nextcloud Talk Indico RetroShare SIPCAPTURE Homer Peer-calls mautrix-telegram Routr GlobaLeaks openSIPS mautrix Databag Galène InspIRCd Candy Toxic Hyphanet FusionPBX soju KiwiIRC Glowing Bear Bonfire Pretalx Delta Chat Notifo SimpleX Briar Quassel IRC OTS matrix-commander Mumble Web Comentario BitlBee ngIRCd Miaou Session Nextcloud Talk Signaling Server UnrealIRCd MiroTalk C2C matrix-appservice-irc Linphone Chatmail Relay Hookshot Atheme IRC Services Maunium Sticker Picker Spectrum 2 Shhh Gamja Jami Server Bridge Mollysocket Anope PushBits Comm Tiledesk Heisenbridge Slixmpp Ferdium Server Solanum Wesh Network Draupnir baibot matrix-media-repo Charybdis IRCd Zusam Cactus Comments ircd-hybrid Scuttlebutt Room Robust IRC Flexisip SAMA Biboumi Hebbot ircu2 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 Isso Papercups Category Chat & Communication Chat & Communication License MIT MIT Language Python Elixir Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 128 MB 1,024 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal, source docker, bare-metal, source GitHub stars ★ 5,296 ★ 6,097 First released 2012 2020 Replaces Disqus Intercom, Drift
Why pick each one
Choose Isso if… Very lightweight Easy to integrate with static sites Isso details Choose Papercups if… Released under the MIT license First-class Docker support for quick deployment Mature project with 6.1k GitHub stars Written in Elixir Papercups details
Frequently asked questions Is Isso or Papercups better? Neither is universally better. Papercups has the larger community, while Isso is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Isso and Papercups free and open-source? Yes. Isso is licensed under MIT and Papercups under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Isso and Papercups with Docker? Isso: yes. Papercups: yes.