ngIRCd vs Papercups
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
ngIRCd
Lightweight Unix IRC server that is easy to configure
VS
Papercups
Open-source live chat and customer messaging
| Feature | ngIRCd | Papercups |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | C | Elixir |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 574 | ★ 6,097 |
| First released | 2001 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Slack | Intercom, Drift |
Why pick each one
Choose ngIRCd if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Choose Papercups if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Elixir
Frequently asked questions
Is ngIRCd or Papercups better?
Neither is universally better. Papercups has the larger community, while ngIRCd is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are ngIRCd and Papercups free and open-source?
Yes. ngIRCd is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Papercups under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run ngIRCd and Papercups with Docker?
ngIRCd: check the project docs for container support. Papercups: yes.