Miaou vs Tox
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Miaou | Tox |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 65 · Good | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 553 | ★ 2,685 |
| First released | 2014 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Discord, Slack | Skype, Discord |
What are Miaou and Tox?
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
Tox
Tox is a free, peer-to-peer instant messaging protocol with end-to-end encryption and no central servers. The c-toxcore library is the reference implementation that powers a range of Tox clients.
- Fully peer-to-peer
- End-to-end encryption
- No central servers
- Voice and video calls
Miaou vs Tox: key differences
Miaou is written in JavaScript, while Tox is built with C. Licensing differs — MIT for Miaou versus GPL-3.0 for Tox. Tox is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Miaou. Tox has the considerably larger community, at 2,685 GitHub stars versus 553.
Why pick each one
Choose Miaou if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Tox if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (2.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Miaou or Tox better?
Neither is universally better. Tox has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Miaou and Tox free and open-source?
Yes. Miaou is licensed under MIT and Tox under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Miaou and Tox with Docker?
Miaou: check the project docs for container support. Tox: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Miaou or Tox?
Tox has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Miaou. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.