Comentario 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?
Comentario
Privacy-friendly, self-hosted web comments engine
VS
Papercups
Open-source live chat and customer messaging
| Feature | Comentario | Papercups |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | Elixir |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 700 | ★ 6,097 |
| First released | 2023 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Disqus | Intercom, Drift |
Why pick each one
Choose Comentario if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
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
Frequently asked questions
Is Comentario or Papercups better?
Neither is universally better. Papercups has the larger community, while Comentario is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Comentario and Papercups free and open-source?
Yes. Comentario is licensed under MIT and Papercups under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Comentario and Papercups with Docker?
Comentario: yes. Papercups: yes.