Galène 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?
FeatureGalènePapercups
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageGoElixir
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 1,372★ 6,097
First released20202020
ReplacesZoom, Google MeetIntercom, Drift

Why pick each one

Choose Galène if…

  • Extremely simple to deploy
  • Efficient on small servers
Galène details

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
Papercups details

Frequently asked questions

Is Galène or Papercups better?

Neither is universally better. Papercups has the larger community, while Galène is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Galène and Papercups free and open-source?

Yes. Galène is licensed under MIT and Papercups under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Galène and Papercups with Docker?

Galène: yes. Papercups: yes.

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