Papercups vs SimpleX
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?
Papercups
Open-source live chat and customer messaging
VS
SimpleX
Messaging platform operating without user identifiers
| Feature | Papercups | SimpleX |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Elixir | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 50 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,097 | ★ 838 |
| First released | 2020 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Intercom, Drift | — |
Why pick each one
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
Choose SimpleX if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Papercups or SimpleX better?
Neither is universally better. Papercups has the larger community, while SimpleX is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Papercups and SimpleX free and open-source?
Yes. Papercups is licensed under MIT and SimpleX under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Papercups and SimpleX with Docker?
Papercups: yes. SimpleX: check the project docs for container support.