OpenProject 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?
FeatureOpenProjectThe Lounge
CategoryProject Management & TasksChat & Communication
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageRubyTypeScript
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM2,048 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 15,794★ 6,309
First released20122014
ReplacesJira, AsanaIRCCloud, Slack

Why pick each one

Choose OpenProject if…

  • Very feature-complete
  • Good for classic project management
  • Strong permissions
OpenProject details

Choose The Lounge if…

  • Great IRC experience in the browser
  • Multi-user support
The Lounge details

Frequently asked questions

Is OpenProject or The Lounge better?

Neither is universally better. OpenProject has the larger community, while The Lounge is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are OpenProject and The Lounge free and open-source?

Yes. OpenProject is licensed under GPL-3.0 and The Lounge under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run OpenProject and The Lounge with Docker?

OpenProject: yes. The Lounge: yes.

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