SHSelfHostIndex

Ergo vs KiwiIRC

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?
ER Ergo Modern IRC server with IRCv3 and bouncer features VS KI KiwiIRC Hosted-anywhere modern web IRC client
FeatureErgoKiwiIRC
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseMITApache-2.0
LanguageGoVue
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM64 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 3,288★ 982
First released20162011
ReplacesSlack, DiscordSlack, Discord

Why pick each one

Choose Ergo if…

  • No external services needed
  • Easy to run
Ergo details

Choose KiwiIRC if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Vue
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
KiwiIRC details

Frequently asked questions

Is Ergo or KiwiIRC 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 KiwiIRC free and open-source?

Yes. Ergo is licensed under MIT and KiwiIRC under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Ergo and KiwiIRC with Docker?

Ergo: yes. KiwiIRC: yes.

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