irssi vs Miaou
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | irssi | Miaou |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 69 · Good | 65 · Good |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | C | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,141 | ★ 553 |
| First released | 1999 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Slack | Discord, Slack |
What are irssi and Miaou?
irssi
irssi is a terminal-based IRC client known for its stability, scripting support, and clean interface. It can be combined with screen or tmux to act as a long-running session.
- Terminal interface
- Perl scripting
- Themeable display
- Long-running stability
Miaou
Miaou is a real-time chat server geared toward developer communities, with markdown formatting, syntax-highlighted code blocks, polls, and per-room moderation. It is the software behind the public Miaou chat used by Rust developers.
- Markdown and code-block friendly chat
- Multi-room with moderation
- OAuth login support
- Popular with developer communities
irssi vs Miaou: key differences
Irssi is written in C, while Miaou is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for irssi versus MIT for Miaou. Irssi is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Miaou. Irssi is the more established project (first released 1999), while Miaou arrived in 2014. Irssi has the considerably larger community, at 3,141 GitHub stars versus 553.
Why pick each one
Choose irssi if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Active community (3.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Choose Miaou if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is irssi or Miaou better?
Neither is universally better. irssi has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are irssi and Miaou free and open-source?
Yes. irssi is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Miaou under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run irssi and Miaou with Docker?
irssi: check the project docs for container support. Miaou: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, irssi or Miaou?
irssi has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Miaou. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.