Ergo vs Glowing Bear
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Ergo
Modern IRC server with IRCv3 and bouncer features
VS
Glowing Bear
Web front end for the WeeChat IRC relay
| Feature | Ergo | Glowing Bear |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 62 · Good |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,333 | ★ 978 |
| First released | 2016 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | IRCCloud, Slack |
What are Ergo and Glowing Bear?
Ergo
Ergo, formerly known as Oragono, is a modern IRC server written in Go that combines an IRCd with bouncer-like features. It supports IRCv3, has built-in account management, and stores message history.
- Full IRCv3 support
- Built-in account registration
- Persistent message history
- Single binary deployment
Glowing Bear
Glowing Bear is a web front end that connects to a WeeChat relay, giving the powerful WeeChat IRC client a modern browser interface. It supports notifications, themes, and mobile use.
- WeeChat relay front end
- Browser-based IRC
- Push notifications
- Theme support
Ergo vs Glowing Bear: key differences
Ergo is written in Go, while Glowing Bear is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Ergo versus GPL-3.0 for Glowing Bear. Glowing Bear is the more established project (first released 2014), while Ergo arrived in 2016. Ergo has the considerably larger community, at 3,333 GitHub stars versus 978.
Why pick each one
Choose Ergo if…
- No external services needed
- Easy to run
Watch out for
- IRC protocol limitations
- No web UI included
Choose Glowing Bear if…
- Leverages WeeChat power
- Works on mobile browsers
Watch out for
- Requires WeeChat relay
- IRC focused
Frequently asked questions
Is Ergo or Glowing Bear better?
Neither is universally better. Ergo has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Ergo and Glowing Bear free and open-source?
Yes. Ergo is licensed under MIT and Glowing Bear under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ergo and Glowing Bear with Docker?
Ergo: yes. Glowing Bear: yes.