mautrix vs The Lounge

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?
FeaturemautrixThe Lounge
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageGoTypeScript
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 1,500★ 6,309
First released20172014
ReplacesBeeperIRCCloud, Slack

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 The Lounge if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is mautrix or The Lounge better?

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

Are mautrix and The Lounge free and open-source?

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

Can I run mautrix and The Lounge with Docker?

mautrix: yes. The Lounge: yes.

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