SHSelfHostIndex

OTS vs SimpleX Chat

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?
OT OTS One-Time-Secret sharing platform with a symmetric 256bit AES VS SI SimpleX Chat Private messenger without any user identifiers
FeatureOTSSimpleX Chat
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseApache-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageGoHaskell
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentbare-metaldocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 777★ 19,211
First released20262021
Replaces—Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram

Why pick each one

Choose OTS if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Written in Go
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
OTS details

Choose SimpleX Chat if…

  • Best-in-class metadata privacy
  • Run your own relays
SimpleX Chat details

Frequently asked questions

Is OTS or SimpleX Chat better?

Neither is universally better. SimpleX Chat has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are OTS and SimpleX Chat free and open-source?

Yes. OTS is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SimpleX Chat under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run OTS and SimpleX Chat with Docker?

OTS: check the project docs for container support. SimpleX Chat: yes.

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