Glowing Bear vs Solanum
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 | Solanum |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 62 · Good | 71 · Good |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 978 | ★ 262 |
| First released | 2014 | 2020 |
| Replaces | IRCCloud, Slack | Slack, Discord |
What are Glowing Bear and Solanum?
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
Solanum
Solanum is an IRCv3 server daemon descended from the Charybdis lineage. It is the software that powers the Libera.Chat IRC network and is suitable for running large IRC infrastructures.
- Powers Libera.Chat
- IRCv3 protocol support
- Scales to large networks
- Charybdis-derived codebase
Glowing Bear vs Solanum: key differences
Glowing Bear is written in JavaScript, while Solanum is built with C. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Glowing Bear versus GPL-2.0 for Solanum. Glowing Bear is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Solanum. Glowing Bear is the more established project (first released 2014), while Solanum arrived in 2020. Glowing Bear has the considerably larger community, at 978 GitHub stars versus 262. Glowing Bear lists first-class Docker deployment; Solanum 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 Solanum if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Glowing Bear or Solanum better?
Glowing Bear is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Solanum if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Glowing Bear and Solanum free and open-source?
Yes. Glowing Bear is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Solanum under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Glowing Bear and Solanum with Docker?
Glowing Bear: yes. Solanum: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Glowing Bear or Solanum?
Glowing Bear has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Solanum. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.