Papercups vs Spacebar
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
Spacebar
Self-hostable, open-source Discord-compatible chat backend
| Feature | Papercups | Spacebar |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Elixir | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,097 | ★ 2,189 |
| First released | 2020 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Intercom, Drift | Discord |
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 Spacebar if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Papercups or Spacebar better?
Papercups is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Spacebar if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Papercups and Spacebar free and open-source?
Yes. Papercups is licensed under MIT and Spacebar under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Papercups and Spacebar with Docker?
Papercups: yes. Spacebar: yes.