SHSelfHostIndex

Convos IRC vs Nheko

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted matrix & xmpp options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
CO Convos IRC Always-online web IRC client you can self-host VS NH Nheko Desktop Matrix client with native Qt interface
FeatureConvos IRCNheko
CategoryMatrix & XMPPMatrix & XMPP
LicenseArtistic-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageGoC++
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalbinary, source
GitHub stars★ 1,188★ 2,472
First released20122017
ReplacesSlack, IRCCloudSlack, Discord

Why pick each one

Choose Convos IRC if…

  • Stays connected for you
  • Simple to deploy
Convos IRC details

Choose Nheko if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C++
Nheko details

Frequently asked questions

Is Convos IRC or Nheko better?

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

Are Convos IRC and Nheko free and open-source?

Yes. Convos IRC is licensed under Artistic-2.0 and Nheko under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Convos IRC and Nheko with Docker?

Convos IRC: yes. Nheko: check the project docs for container support.

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