Chatmail Relay vs Etherpad

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?
FeatureChatmail RelayEtherpad
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseMPL-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePythonTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 476★ 18,481
First released20232011
ReplacesWhatsApp, SignalGoogle Docs

Why pick each one

Choose Chatmail Relay if…

  • Uses open email standards
  • Hard to censor
Chatmail Relay details

Choose Etherpad if…

  • Very mature and stable
  • Highly extensible
Etherpad details

Frequently asked questions

Is Chatmail Relay or Etherpad better?

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

Are Chatmail Relay and Etherpad free and open-source?

Yes. Chatmail Relay is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Etherpad under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Chatmail Relay and Etherpad with Docker?

Chatmail Relay: yes. Etherpad: yes.

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