SHSelfHostIndex

Glowing Bear vs InspIRCd

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?
GL Glowing Bear Web front end for the WeeChat IRC relay VS InspIRCd Modular C++ Internet Relay Chat daemon
FeatureGlowing BearInspIRCd
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score62 · Good84 · Excellent
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguageJavaScriptC++
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM64 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 978★ 1,347
First released20142002
ReplacesIRCCloud, SlackSlack, Discord

What are Glowing Bear and InspIRCd?

Glowing Bear

Glowing Bear is a web front end that connects to a WeeChat relay, giving the powerful WeeChat IRC client a modern browser interface. It supports notifications, themes, and mobile use.

  • WeeChat relay front end
  • Browser-based IRC
  • Push notifications
  • Theme support

InspIRCd

InspIRCd is a modular, high-performance IRC server written in C++. Its plugin-based architecture lets administrators enable only the features they need for their network.

  • Modular plugin architecture
  • Lightweight and fast
  • Supports large IRC networks
  • Cross-platform

Glowing Bear vs InspIRCd: key differences

Glowing Bear is written in JavaScript, while InspIRCd is built with C++. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Glowing Bear versus GPL-2.0 for InspIRCd. InspIRCd is the more established project (first released 2002), while Glowing Bear arrived in 2014.

Why pick each one

Choose Glowing Bear if…

  • Leverages WeeChat power
  • Works on mobile browsers

Watch out for

  • Requires WeeChat relay
  • IRC focused
Glowing Bear details

Choose InspIRCd if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C++

Watch out for

  • Configuration is XML-based
  • IRC-only
InspIRCd details

Frequently asked questions

Is Glowing Bear or InspIRCd better?

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

Are Glowing Bear and InspIRCd free and open-source?

Yes. Glowing Bear is licensed under GPL-3.0 and InspIRCd under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Glowing Bear and InspIRCd with Docker?

Glowing Bear: yes. InspIRCd: yes.

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