Quassel IRC vs Solanum
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Quassel IRC | Solanum |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 57 · Fair | 71 · Good |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 794 | ★ 262 |
| First released | 2008 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Slack | Slack, Discord |
What are Quassel IRC and Solanum?
Quassel IRC
Quassel is a distributed IRC client built around a central core that stays connected and one or more clients that attach to it. The core acts as a permanent bouncer storing backlog for all devices.
- Always-on core bouncer
- Synced backlog across devices
- Qt desktop clients
- PostgreSQL or SQLite storage
Solanum
Solanum is an IRCv3 server daemon descended from the Charybdis lineage. It is the software that powers the Libera.Chat IRC network and is suitable for running large IRC infrastructures.
- Powers Libera.Chat
- IRCv3 protocol support
- Scales to large networks
- Charybdis-derived codebase
Quassel IRC vs Solanum: key differences
Quassel IRC is written in C++, while Solanum is built with C. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Quassel IRC versus GPL-2.0 for Solanum. Quassel IRC is the more established project (first released 2008), while Solanum arrived in 2020. Quassel IRC has the considerably larger community, at 794 GitHub stars versus 262. Quassel IRC lists first-class Docker deployment; Solanum does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Quassel IRC if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Solanum if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Quassel IRC or Solanum better?
Quassel IRC is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Solanum if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Quassel IRC and Solanum free and open-source?
Yes. Quassel IRC is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Solanum under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Quassel IRC and Solanum with Docker?
Quassel IRC: yes. Solanum: check the project docs for container support.