Chatwoot vs Robust IRC

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?
FeatureChatwootRobust IRC
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseMITBSD-3-Clause
LanguageRubyGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, bare-metalbare-metal
GitHub stars★ 35,596★ 195
First released20192020
ReplacesIntercom, Zendesk, Drift

Why pick each one

Choose Chatwoot if…

  • Polished customer support workflow
  • Active development
Chatwoot details

Choose Robust IRC if…

  • Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
  • Written in Go
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Robust IRC details

Frequently asked questions

Is Chatwoot or Robust IRC better?

Neither is universally better. Chatwoot has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Chatwoot and Robust IRC free and open-source?

Yes. Chatwoot is licensed under MIT and Robust IRC under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Chatwoot and Robust IRC with Docker?

Chatwoot: yes. Robust IRC: check the project docs for container support.

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