Glowing Bear vs Hookshot
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 | Hookshot |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 62 · Good | 79 · Good |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 978 | ★ 453 |
| First released | 2014 | 2021 |
| Replaces | IRCCloud, Slack | Slack |
What are Glowing Bear and Hookshot?
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
Hookshot
Hookshot is a Matrix integration bridge that connects rooms to GitHub, GitLab, Jira, RSS feeds, and generic webhooks. It lets teams receive and act on notifications inside Matrix.
- GitHub, GitLab and Jira integration
- Generic inbound and outbound webhooks
- RSS and Atom feed support
- Interactive notification actions
Glowing Bear vs Hookshot: key differences
Glowing Bear is written in JavaScript, while Hookshot is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Glowing Bear versus Apache-2.0 for Hookshot. Glowing Bear is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Hookshot. Glowing Bear is the more established project (first released 2014), while Hookshot arrived in 2021. Glowing Bear has the considerably larger community, at 978 GitHub stars versus 453.
Why pick each one
Choose Glowing Bear if…
- Leverages WeeChat power
- Works on mobile browsers
Watch out for
- Requires WeeChat relay
- IRC focused
Choose Hookshot if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Requires a Matrix homeserver
- Configuration is YAML-heavy
Frequently asked questions
Is Glowing Bear or Hookshot 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 Hookshot free and open-source?
Yes. Glowing Bear is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Hookshot under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Glowing Bear and Hookshot with Docker?
Glowing Bear: yes. Hookshot: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Glowing Bear or Hookshot?
Glowing Bear has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Hookshot. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.