Nheko vs The Lounge
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?
Compare Nheko with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip Tinode Element Web Spectrum Let's Chat Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd Dendrite Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Tox Dino Tuwunel Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity InspIRCd Convos IRC Syphon Element Call KiwiIRC Dendrite Lite Bonfire Element X Fractal Maubot Mumble Web Continuwuity Miaou
Compare The Lounge with
choose an app… Plane Rocket.Chat Mattermost Chatwoot Focalboard Zulip Super Productivity Wekan SimpleX Chat Etherpad OpenProject Habitica Self-Hosted Tinode Element Web Planka Leantime Centrifugo Screego Typebot git-bug Let's Chat Kanboard Berty Mumble Kaneo Matterbridge ejabberd Papercups Taskwarrior Zammad WorkAdventure Dendrite Soketi Remark42 Isso FreeSWITCH qTox MiroTalk Synapse Ferdium FreeScout Telegram Bot API Server Rustpad Cinny Asterisk WeeChat Ergo Converse.js irssi Openfire Quicksy Bridge Kamailio Cusdis Tox Stoat Dino AnyCable Chitchatter Live Helper Chat Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk ZNC Indico Movim RetroShare SIPCAPTURE Homer Peer-calls mautrix-telegram Routr GlobaLeaks openSIPS mautrix Databag Galène InspIRCd Candy Toxic Hyphanet Convos IRC FusionPBX soju KiwiIRC Glowing Bear Bonfire Pretalx Delta Chat Notifo SimpleX Briar Quassel IRC OTS matrix-commander Mumble Web Comentario BitlBee ngIRCd Miaou Session Nextcloud Talk Signaling Server UnrealIRCd MiroTalk C2C matrix-appservice-irc Linphone Chatmail Relay Hookshot Atheme IRC Services Maunium Sticker Picker Spectrum 2 Shhh Gamja Jami Server Bridge Mollysocket Anope PushBits Comm Heisenbridge Slixmpp Ferdium Server Solanum Wesh Network Draupnir baibot matrix-media-repo Charybdis IRCd Zusam Cactus Comments ircd-hybrid Scuttlebutt Room Robust IRC Flexisip SAMA Biboumi Hebbot ircu2 Libervia Jami YunoHost Mail Relay 3CX ARN-Messager Freepbx GNUnet Groupboard MailBag Mailman3 Mailing List Manager Mlmmj Web Peachpub PrivMX WebMail SIP3 TrueConf Wazo Yeti-Switch
Feature Nheko The Lounge Category Matrix & XMPP Chat & Communication License GPL-3.0 MIT Language C++ TypeScript Setup difficulty Easy Easy Min. RAM 256 MB 256 MB Deployment binary, source docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 2,472 ★ 6,309 First released 2017 2014 Replaces Slack, Discord IRCCloud, Slack
Why pick each one
Choose Nheko if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Active community (2.5k GitHub stars) Written in C++ Nheko details Choose The Lounge if… Great IRC experience in the browser Multi-user support The Lounge details
Frequently asked questions Is Nheko or The Lounge better? Neither is universally better. The Lounge has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Nheko and The Lounge free and open-source? Yes. Nheko is licensed under GPL-3.0 and The Lounge under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Nheko and The Lounge with Docker? Nheko: check the project docs for container support. The Lounge: yes.