Biboumi 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?
FeatureBiboumiPapercups
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseZlibMIT
LanguageC++Elixir
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM64 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 100★ 6,097
First released20142020
ReplacesIntercom, Drift

Why pick each one

Choose Biboumi if…

  • Released under the Zlib license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Biboumi 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 Biboumi or Papercups better?

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

Are Biboumi and Papercups free and open-source?

Yes. Biboumi is licensed under Zlib and Papercups under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Biboumi and Papercups with Docker?

Biboumi: yes. Papercups: yes.

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