Convos IRC vs The Lounge

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureConvos IRCThe Lounge
CategoryMatrix & XMPPChat & Communication
LicenseArtistic-2.0MIT
LanguageGoTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 1,188★ 6,309
First released20122014
ReplacesSlack, IRCCloudIRCCloud, Slack

Why pick each one

Choose Convos IRC if…

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

Choose The Lounge if…

  • Great IRC experience in the browser
  • Multi-user support
The Lounge details

Frequently asked questions

Is Convos IRC or The Lounge better?

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

Are Convos IRC and The Lounge free and open-source?

Yes. Convos IRC is licensed under Artistic-2.0 and The Lounge under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Convos IRC and The Lounge with Docker?

Convos IRC: yes. The Lounge: yes.

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