Jami 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?
FeatureJamiSimpleX Chat
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageC++Haskell
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, binarydocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 41★ 19,211
First released20162021
ReplacesSkype, Zoom, WhatsAppSignal, WhatsApp, Telegram

Why pick each one

Choose Jami if…

  • No infrastructure required
  • Strong privacy model
Jami details

Choose SimpleX Chat if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is Jami 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 Jami and SimpleX Chat free and open-source?

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

Can I run Jami and SimpleX Chat with Docker?

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

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