Peer-calls vs qTox
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Peer-calls
Group peer to peer video calls for everyone
VS
qTox
Archived
Peer-to-peer encrypted messaging and calls over Tox
| Feature | Peer-calls | qTox |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 37 · At risk | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,900 | ★ 4,976 |
| First released | 2024 | 2014 |
| Replaces | BigBlueButton, Skype, Zoom | Skype, WhatsApp |
What are Peer-calls and qTox?
Peer-calls
Group peer to peer video calls for everyone.
qTox
qTox is a Qt-based client for the Tox protocol, a fully distributed, encrypted, peer-to-peer communication network. It supports text chat, file transfer, voice, and video without any central servers.
- Fully peer-to-peer, no servers
- End-to-end encryption
- Voice and video calls
- File transfer
Peer-calls vs qTox: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: qTox's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Peer-calls is actively maintained. Peer-calls is written in Go, while qTox is built with C++. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Peer-calls versus GPL-3.0 for qTox. Peer-calls is the lighter option, starting around 50 MB of RAM against 128 MB for qTox. QTox is the more established project (first released 2014), while Peer-calls arrived in 2024. QTox has the considerably larger community, at 4,976 GitHub stars versus 1,900.
Why pick each one
Choose Peer-calls if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Choose qTox if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (5k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Watch out for
- No offline messaging
- Project development has slowed
Frequently asked questions
Is Peer-calls or qTox better?
Neither is universally better. qTox has the larger community, while Peer-calls is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Peer-calls and qTox free and open-source?
Yes. Peer-calls is licensed under Apache-2.0 and qTox under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Peer-calls and qTox with Docker?
Peer-calls: check the project docs for container support. qTox: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Peer-calls or qTox?
Peer-calls has the smaller minimum footprint at 50 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for qTox. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.