mautrix vs Papercups

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?
FeaturemautrixPapercups
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageGoElixir
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 1,500★ 6,097
First released20172020
ReplacesBeeperIntercom, Drift

Why pick each one

Choose mautrix if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Go
mautrix details

Choose Papercups if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 6.1k GitHub stars
  • Written in Elixir
Papercups details

Frequently asked questions

Is mautrix or Papercups better?

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

Are mautrix and Papercups free and open-source?

Yes. mautrix is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Papercups under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run mautrix and Papercups with Docker?

mautrix: yes. Papercups: yes.

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