Mumble vs qTox

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?
FeatureMumbleqTox
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseGPL-3.0
LanguageC++C++
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, binarybare-metal, binary
GitHub stars★ 8,175★ 4,977
First released20052014
ReplacesDiscord, TeamSpeak, VentriloSkype, WhatsApp

Why pick each one

Choose Mumble if…

  • Excellent voice quality
  • Tiny resource footprint
Mumble details

Choose qTox if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Active community (5k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
qTox details

Frequently asked questions

Is Mumble or qTox better?

Mumble is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider qTox if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Mumble and qTox free and open-source?

Yes. Mumble is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and qTox under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Mumble and qTox with Docker?

Mumble: yes. qTox: check the project docs for container support.

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