Galène vs The Lounge

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?
FeatureGalèneThe Lounge
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageGoTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 1,372★ 6,309
First released20202014
ReplacesZoom, Google MeetIRCCloud, Slack

Why pick each one

Choose Galène if…

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

Choose The Lounge if…

  • Great IRC experience in the browser
  • Multi-user support
The Lounge details

Frequently asked questions

Is Galène or The Lounge better?

Neither is universally better. The Lounge has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Galène and The Lounge free and open-source?

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

Can I run Galène and The Lounge with Docker?

Galène: yes. The Lounge: yes.

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