Toxic vs Quicksy Bridge
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?
Toxic
Terminal-based client for the Tox messaging network
VS
Quicksy Bridge
XMPP gateway providing phone-number based messaging
| Feature | Toxic | Quicksy Bridge |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,301 | ★ 3,000 |
| First released | 2014 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Skype, WhatsApp | WhatsApp, Signal |
Why pick each one
Choose Toxic if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Toxic or Quicksy Bridge better?
Neither is universally better. Quicksy Bridge has the larger community, while Toxic is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Toxic and Quicksy Bridge free and open-source?
Yes. Toxic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Quicksy Bridge under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Toxic and Quicksy Bridge with Docker?
Toxic: check the project docs for container support. Quicksy Bridge: yes.