Miaou vs Spectrum
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?
Miaou
Self-hosted multi-room chat with markdown and code blocks
VS
Spectrum
Open-source platform for building online communities
| Feature | Miaou | Spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Forums & Community |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 553 | ★ 10,837 |
| First released | 2014 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Discord, Slack | Discord, Discourse |
Why pick each one
Choose Miaou if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Spectrum if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 10.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Miaou or Spectrum better?
Neither is universally better. Spectrum 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 Spectrum free and open-source?
Yes. Miaou is licensed under MIT and Spectrum under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Miaou and Spectrum with Docker?
Miaou: check the project docs for container support. Spectrum: yes.