Miaou vs Solanum
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Miaou | Solanum |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 65 · Good | 71 · Good |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 553 | ★ 262 |
| First released | 2014 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Discord, Slack | Slack, Discord |
What are Miaou and Solanum?
Miaou
Miaou is a real-time chat server geared toward developer communities, with markdown formatting, syntax-highlighted code blocks, polls, and per-room moderation. It is the software behind the public Miaou chat used by Rust developers.
- Markdown and code-block friendly chat
- Multi-room with moderation
- OAuth login support
- Popular with developer communities
Solanum
Solanum is an IRCv3 server daemon descended from the Charybdis lineage. It is the software that powers the Libera.Chat IRC network and is suitable for running large IRC infrastructures.
- Powers Libera.Chat
- IRCv3 protocol support
- Scales to large networks
- Charybdis-derived codebase
Miaou vs Solanum: key differences
Miaou is written in JavaScript, while Solanum is built with C. Licensing differs — MIT for Miaou versus GPL-2.0 for Solanum. Solanum is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Miaou. Miaou is the more established project (first released 2014), while Solanum arrived in 2020. Miaou has the considerably larger community, at 553 GitHub stars versus 262.
Why pick each one
Choose Miaou if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Solanum if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Miaou or Solanum better?
Miaou is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Solanum if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Miaou and Solanum free and open-source?
Yes. Miaou is licensed under MIT and Solanum under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Miaou and Solanum with Docker?
Miaou: check the project docs for container support. Solanum: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Miaou or Solanum?
Solanum has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Miaou. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.