Toxic 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.
SimpleX Chat
Private messenger without any user identifiers
| Feature | Toxic | SimpleX Chat |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 79 · Good | 96 · Excellent |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,305 | ★ 19,470 |
| First released | 2014 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Skype, WhatsApp | Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram |
What are Toxic and SimpleX Chat?
Toxic
Toxic is a console client for the peer-to-peer, encrypted Tox communication protocol. It provides text chat, file transfer, and audio calls from the terminal with no central servers.
- Terminal-based Tox client
- Fully peer-to-peer
- Encrypted chat and calls
- File transfer support
SimpleX Chat
SimpleX Chat is a privacy-focused messaging platform that has no user profiles or identifiers, routing messages through self-hostable relay servers. Users can run their own SMP relay servers for full control.
- No user identifiers at all
- Self-hostable SMP relay servers
- End-to-end encryption
- Decentralized message routing
Toxic vs SimpleX Chat: key differences
Toxic is written in C, while SimpleX Chat is built with Haskell. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Toxic versus AGPL-3.0 for SimpleX Chat. Toxic is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for SimpleX Chat. Toxic is the more established project (first released 2014), while SimpleX Chat arrived in 2021. SimpleX Chat has the considerably larger community, at 19,470 GitHub stars versus 1,305. SimpleX Chat lists first-class Docker deployment; Toxic does not.
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
Watch out for
- Terminal UI only
- No offline messaging
Choose SimpleX Chat if…
- Best-in-class metadata privacy
- Run your own relays
Watch out for
- Newer protocol
- Group features still maturing
Frequently asked questions
Is Toxic or SimpleX Chat better?
Neither is universally better. SimpleX Chat has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Toxic and SimpleX Chat free and open-source?
Yes. Toxic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SimpleX Chat under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Toxic and SimpleX Chat with Docker?
Toxic: check the project docs for container support. SimpleX Chat: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Toxic or SimpleX Chat?
Toxic has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for SimpleX Chat. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.