SHSelfHostIndex

SimpleX Chat vs Solanum

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?
SI SimpleX Chat Private messenger without any user identifiers VS SO Solanum IRCv3 server daemon used by Libera.Chat
FeatureSimpleX ChatSolanum
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguageHaskellC
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcebare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 19,211★ 260
First released20212020
ReplacesSignal, WhatsApp, TelegramSlack, Discord

Why pick each one

Choose SimpleX Chat if…

  • Best-in-class metadata privacy
  • Run your own relays
SimpleX Chat details

Choose Solanum if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Written in C
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Solanum details

Frequently asked questions

Is SimpleX Chat or Solanum better?

SimpleX Chat 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 SimpleX Chat and Solanum free and open-source?

Yes. SimpleX Chat is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Solanum under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run SimpleX Chat and Solanum with Docker?

SimpleX Chat: yes. Solanum: check the project docs for container support.

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