Glowing Bear vs ircu2
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 | ircu2 |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 62 · Good | 51 · Fair |
| 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 | ★ 64 |
| First released | 2014 | 1996 |
| Replaces | IRCCloud, Slack | Discord, Slack |
What are Glowing Bear and ircu2?
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
ircu2
ircu2 (ircd-undernet) is the IRC server daemon developed for and used by the Undernet IRC network. It can be self-hosted to run an IRC network and supports a feature-rich channel and server model.
- IRC server used by Undernet
- Feature-rich channel model
- Lightweight C daemon
Glowing Bear vs ircu2: key differences
Glowing Bear is written in JavaScript, while ircu2 is built with C. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Glowing Bear versus GPL-2.0 for ircu2. Ircu2 is the more established project (first released 1996), while Glowing Bear arrived in 2014. Glowing Bear has the considerably larger community, at 978 GitHub stars versus 64. Glowing Bear lists first-class Docker deployment; ircu2 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 ircu2 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 ircu2 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 ircu2 free and open-source?
Yes. Glowing Bear is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ircu2 under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Glowing Bear and ircu2 with Docker?
Glowing Bear: yes. ircu2: check the project docs for container support.