Glowing Bear vs ircd-hybrid
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Glowing Bear | ircd-hybrid |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 62 · Good | 69 · Good |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 978 | ★ 200 |
| First released | 2014 | 1997 |
| Replaces | IRCCloud, Slack | Slack, Discord |
What are Glowing Bear and ircd-hybrid?
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
ircd-hybrid
ircd-hybrid is a long-standing IRC server daemon known for stability and a lightweight footprint. It supports modern IRC features and modular extensions, and can be self-hosted to run an IRC network.
- Stable lightweight IRC daemon
- Modular extensions
- Long-standing project
Glowing Bear vs ircd-hybrid: key differences
Glowing Bear is written in JavaScript, while ircd-hybrid is built with C. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Glowing Bear versus GPL-2.0 for ircd-hybrid. Ircd-hybrid is the more established project (first released 1997), while Glowing Bear arrived in 2014. Glowing Bear has the considerably larger community, at 978 GitHub stars versus 200. Glowing Bear lists first-class Docker deployment; ircd-hybrid does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Glowing Bear if…
- Leverages WeeChat power
- Works on mobile browsers
Watch out for
- Requires WeeChat relay
- IRC focused
Choose ircd-hybrid if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Glowing Bear or ircd-hybrid better?
Neither is universally better. Glowing Bear has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Glowing Bear and ircd-hybrid free and open-source?
Yes. Glowing Bear is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ircd-hybrid under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Glowing Bear and ircd-hybrid with Docker?
Glowing Bear: yes. ircd-hybrid: check the project docs for container support.