FreeSWITCH vs Kamailio
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?
FreeSWITCH
Scalable software telephony platform
VS
Kamailio
High-performance SIP server for VoIP infrastructure
| Feature | FreeSWITCH | Kamailio |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,069 | ★ 2,899 |
| First released | 2006 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Twilio, Asterisk | Twilio |
Why pick each one
Choose FreeSWITCH if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 5.1k GitHub stars
- Written in C
Choose Kamailio if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Frequently asked questions
Is FreeSWITCH or Kamailio better?
Neither is universally better. FreeSWITCH has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are FreeSWITCH and Kamailio free and open-source?
Yes. FreeSWITCH is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Kamailio under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run FreeSWITCH and Kamailio with Docker?
FreeSWITCH: yes. Kamailio: yes.