Papercups vs Scuttlebutt Room
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
Scuttlebutt Room
Secure Scuttlebutt room server
| Feature | Papercups | Scuttlebutt Room |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Elixir | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 100 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,097 | ★ 200 |
| 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 Scuttlebutt Room if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 100 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Papercups or Scuttlebutt Room better?
Neither is universally better. Papercups has the larger community, while Scuttlebutt Room is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Papercups and Scuttlebutt Room free and open-source?
Yes. Papercups is licensed under MIT and Scuttlebutt Room under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Papercups and Scuttlebutt Room with Docker?
Papercups: yes. Scuttlebutt Room: check the project docs for container support.