Revolt vs Spectrum
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Revolt
Open-source chat platform for communities
VS
Spectrum
Open-source platform for building online communities
| Feature | Revolt | Spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Team Chat | Forums & Community |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Rust | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,203 | ★ 10,837 |
| First released | 2021 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Discord | Discord, Discourse |
Why pick each one
Choose Spectrum if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 10.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Revolt or Spectrum better?
Neither is universally better. Spectrum has the larger community, while Revolt is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Revolt and Spectrum free and open-source?
Yes. Revolt is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Spectrum under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Revolt and Spectrum with Docker?
Revolt: yes. Spectrum: yes.