Miaou vs Spacebar
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Spacebar
Self-hostable, open-source Discord-compatible chat backend
| Feature | Miaou | Spacebar |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 65 · Good | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 553 | ★ 2,196 |
| First released | 2014 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Discord, Slack | Discord |
What are Miaou and Spacebar?
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
Spacebar
Spacebar is a free, open-source, self-hostable chat platform that is compatible with the Discord client and API. It lets communities run their own Discord-like server infrastructure.
- Discord-API compatible
- Works with existing Discord clients
- Self-hosted communities
- Voice and text channels
Miaou vs Spacebar: key differences
Miaou is written in JavaScript, while Spacebar is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Miaou versus AGPL-3.0 for Spacebar. Miaou is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Spacebar. Miaou is the more established project (first released 2014), while Spacebar arrived in 2021. Spacebar has the considerably larger community, at 2,196 GitHub stars versus 553. Spacebar lists first-class Docker deployment; Miaou does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Miaou if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Spacebar if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Watch out for
- Still in heavy development
- Feature gaps versus Discord
Frequently asked questions
Is Miaou or Spacebar better?
Neither is universally better. Spacebar has the larger community, while Miaou is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Miaou and Spacebar free and open-source?
Yes. Miaou is licensed under MIT and Spacebar under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Miaou and Spacebar with Docker?
Miaou: check the project docs for container support. Spacebar: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Miaou or Spacebar?
Miaou has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Spacebar. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.