Ferdium vs Papercups
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?
Ferdium
All-in-one messenger that combines chat services
VS
Papercups
Open-source live chat and customer messaging
| Feature | Ferdium | Papercups |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Elixir |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,478 | ★ 6,097 |
| First released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Rambox, Station | Intercom, Drift |
Why pick each one
Choose Ferdium if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4.5k GitHub stars)
Choose Papercups if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Elixir
Frequently asked questions
Is Ferdium or Papercups better?
Neither is universally better. Papercups has the larger community, while Ferdium is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Ferdium and Papercups free and open-source?
Yes. Ferdium is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Papercups under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ferdium and Papercups with Docker?
Ferdium: yes. Papercups: yes.