Miaou vs WeeChat
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Miaou | WeeChat |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 65 · Good | 88 · 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, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 553 | ★ 3,393 |
| First released | 2014 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Discord, Slack | Slack |
What are Miaou and WeeChat?
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
WeeChat
WeeChat is a fast, lightweight chat client that runs in the terminal and supports IRC and many other protocols through plugins. Its relay protocol allows remote clients to connect to a persistent session.
- Terminal interface
- Scriptable in many languages
- Relay protocol for remote clients
- Highly extensible
Miaou vs WeeChat: key differences
Miaou is written in JavaScript, while WeeChat is built with C. Licensing differs — MIT for Miaou versus GPL-3.0 for WeeChat. WeeChat is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Miaou. WeeChat is the more established project (first released 2003), while Miaou arrived in 2014. WeeChat has the considerably larger community, at 3,393 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 WeeChat if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (3.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Miaou or WeeChat better?
Neither is universally better. WeeChat has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Miaou and WeeChat free and open-source?
Yes. Miaou is licensed under MIT and WeeChat under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Miaou and WeeChat with Docker?
Miaou: check the project docs for container support. WeeChat: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Miaou or WeeChat?
WeeChat 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.