SHSelfHostIndex

ircu2 vs SimpleX Chat

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?
IR ircu2 IRC server daemon used by the Undernet network VS SI SimpleX Chat Private messenger without any user identifiers
Featureircu2SimpleX Chat
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseGPL-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageCHaskell
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM64 MB256 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 64★ 19,211
First released19962021
ReplacesDiscord, SlackSignal, WhatsApp, Telegram

Why pick each one

Choose ircu2 if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Written in C
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
ircu2 details

Choose SimpleX Chat if…

  • Best-in-class metadata privacy
  • Run your own relays
SimpleX Chat details

Frequently asked questions

Is ircu2 or SimpleX Chat better?

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

Are ircu2 and SimpleX Chat free and open-source?

Yes. ircu2 is licensed under GPL-2.0 and SimpleX Chat under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run ircu2 and SimpleX Chat with Docker?

ircu2: check the project docs for container support. SimpleX Chat: yes.

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