Etherpad vs Linphone

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?
FeatureEtherpadLinphone
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptC++
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebinary, source
GitHub stars★ 18,481★ 500
First released20112001
ReplacesGoogle DocsSkype, Zoom

Why pick each one

Choose Etherpad if…

  • Very mature and stable
  • Highly extensible
Etherpad details

Choose Linphone if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Linphone details

Frequently asked questions

Is Etherpad or Linphone 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 Etherpad and Linphone free and open-source?

Yes. Etherpad is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Linphone under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Etherpad and Linphone with Docker?

Etherpad: yes. Linphone: check the project docs for container support.

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