Rocket.Chat vs The Lounge
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?
Compare Rocket.Chat with
choose an app… Mattermost Zulip Tinode Element Web Let's Chat BigBlueButton Matterbridge ejabberd Dendrite Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire Dino Nheko La Suite - Meet Conduit Nextcloud Talk Movim Twake Workplace Zulip Terminal Spark IM matterircd Virola Messenger
Compare The Lounge with
choose an app… Plane Mattermost Chatwoot Focalboard Zulip Super Productivity Wekan SimpleX Chat Etherpad OpenProject Habitica Self-Hosted Tinode Element Web Planka Leantime Centrifugo Screego Typebot git-bug Let's Chat Kanboard Berty Mumble Kaneo Matterbridge ejabberd Papercups Taskwarrior Zammad WorkAdventure Dendrite Soketi Remark42 Isso FreeSWITCH qTox MiroTalk Synapse Ferdium FreeScout Telegram Bot API Server Rustpad Cinny Asterisk WeeChat Ergo Converse.js irssi Openfire Quicksy Bridge Kamailio Cusdis Tox Stoat Dino Nheko AnyCable Chitchatter Live Helper Chat Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk ZNC Indico Movim RetroShare SIPCAPTURE Homer Peer-calls mautrix-telegram Routr GlobaLeaks openSIPS mautrix Databag Galène InspIRCd Candy Toxic Hyphanet Convos IRC FusionPBX soju KiwiIRC Glowing Bear Bonfire Pretalx Delta Chat Notifo SimpleX Briar Quassel IRC OTS matrix-commander Mumble Web Comentario BitlBee ngIRCd Miaou Session Nextcloud Talk Signaling Server UnrealIRCd MiroTalk C2C matrix-appservice-irc Linphone Chatmail Relay Hookshot Atheme IRC Services Maunium Sticker Picker Spectrum 2 Shhh Gamja Jami Server Bridge Mollysocket Anope PushBits Comm Heisenbridge Slixmpp Ferdium Server Solanum Wesh Network Draupnir baibot matrix-media-repo Charybdis IRCd Zusam Cactus Comments ircd-hybrid Scuttlebutt Room Robust IRC Flexisip SAMA Biboumi Hebbot ircu2 Libervia Jami YunoHost Mail Relay 3CX ARN-Messager Freepbx GNUnet Groupboard MailBag Mailman3 Mailing List Manager Mlmmj Web Peachpub PrivMX WebMail SIP3 TrueConf Wazo Yeti-Switch
Feature Rocket.Chat The Lounge Category Team Chat Chat & Communication License MIT MIT Language TypeScript TypeScript Setup difficulty Medium Easy Min. RAM 2,048 MB 256 MB Deployment docker, snap, kubernetes docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 45,947 ★ 6,309 First released 2015 2014 Replaces Slack, Microsoft Teams IRCCloud, Slack
Why pick each one
Choose Rocket.Chat if… Feature-rich Slack alternative Strong integrations Self-hostable Rocket.Chat details Choose The Lounge if… Great IRC experience in the browser Multi-user support The Lounge details
Frequently asked questions Is Rocket.Chat or The Lounge better? Neither is universally better. Rocket.Chat has the larger community, while The Lounge is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Rocket.Chat and The Lounge free and open-source? Yes. Rocket.Chat is licensed under MIT and The Lounge under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Rocket.Chat and The Lounge with Docker? Rocket.Chat: yes. The Lounge: yes.