Toxic vs Wesh Network
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Toxic | Wesh Network |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 79 · Good | 56 · Fair |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,305 | ★ 251 |
| First released | 2014 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Skype, WhatsApp | Signal, WhatsApp |
What are Toxic and Wesh Network?
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
Wesh Network
Wesh Network is the peer-to-peer protocol toolkit powering Berty, providing end-to-end encrypted, asynchronous messaging that works without central servers or phone numbers. It can be self-hosted as relay infrastructure.
- Peer-to-peer encrypted messaging protocol
- Works without central servers
- No phone number required
Toxic vs Wesh Network: key differences
Toxic is written in C, while Wesh Network is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Toxic versus Apache-2.0 for Wesh Network. Toxic is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Wesh Network. Toxic is the more established project (first released 2014), while Wesh Network arrived in 2022. Toxic has the considerably larger community, at 1,305 GitHub stars versus 251.
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 Wesh Network if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Toxic or Wesh Network better?
Toxic is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Wesh Network if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Toxic and Wesh Network free and open-source?
Yes. Toxic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Wesh Network under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Toxic and Wesh Network with Docker?
Toxic: check the project docs for container support. Wesh Network: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Toxic or Wesh Network?
Toxic has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Wesh Network. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.