SHSelfHostIndex

Glowing Bear vs soju

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 SO soju User-friendly IRC bouncer with multi-network support
FeatureGlowing Bearsoju
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageJavaScriptGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM64 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 978★ 1,000
First released20142020
ReplacesIRCCloud, SlackIRCCloud

What are Glowing Bear and soju?

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

soju

soju is a modern IRC bouncer that keeps you connected to IRC networks and stores message history while you are away. It supports multiple users and networks from a single instance.

  • Multi-user and multi-network
  • Persistent message buffers
  • IRCv3 support
  • Pairs with the Gamja web client

Glowing Bear vs soju: key differences

Glowing Bear is written in JavaScript, while soju is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Glowing Bear versus AGPL-3.0 for soju. Glowing Bear is the more established project (first released 2014), while soju arrived in 2020.

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 soju if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Go

Watch out for

  • Requires an IRC client
  • Setup needs CLI knowledge
soju details

Frequently asked questions

Is Glowing Bear or soju better?

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

Are Glowing Bear and soju free and open-source?

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

Can I run Glowing Bear and soju with Docker?

Glowing Bear: yes. soju: yes.

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