Convos IRC vs Profanity
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?
Convos IRC
Always-online web IRC client you can self-host
VS
Profanity
Console-based XMPP client inspired by irssi
| Feature | Convos IRC | Profanity |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Artistic-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,188 | ★ 1,530 |
| First released | 2012 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Slack, IRCCloud | Slack |
Why pick each one
Choose Profanity if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Convos IRC or Profanity better?
Neither is universally better. Profanity has the larger community, while Convos IRC is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Convos IRC and Profanity free and open-source?
Yes. Convos IRC is licensed under Artistic-2.0 and Profanity under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Convos IRC and Profanity with Docker?
Convos IRC: yes. Profanity: check the project docs for container support.