gomuks vs Spectrum
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
gomuks
Terminal-based Matrix client written in Go
VS
Spectrum
Open-source platform for building online communities
| Feature | gomuks | Spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Forums & Community |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,706 | ★ 10,837 |
| First released | 2018 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Discord, Discourse |
Why pick each one
Choose gomuks if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Choose Spectrum if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 10.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is gomuks or Spectrum better?
Neither is universally better. Spectrum has the larger community, while gomuks is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are gomuks and Spectrum free and open-source?
Yes. gomuks is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Spectrum under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run gomuks and Spectrum with Docker?
gomuks: check the project docs for container support. Spectrum: yes.