Solanum vs Tox
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Solanum | Tox |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 71 · Good | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 262 | ★ 2,685 |
| First released | 2020 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Skype, Discord |
What are Solanum and Tox?
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
Tox
Tox is a free, peer-to-peer instant messaging protocol with end-to-end encryption and no central servers. The c-toxcore library is the reference implementation that powers a range of Tox clients.
- Fully peer-to-peer
- End-to-end encryption
- No central servers
- Voice and video calls
Solanum vs Tox: key differences
Both projects are written in C. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Solanum versus GPL-3.0 for Tox. Tox is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Solanum. Tox is the more established project (first released 2013), while Solanum arrived in 2020. Tox has the considerably larger community, at 2,685 GitHub stars versus 262.
Why pick each one
Choose Solanum if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Tox if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (2.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Solanum or Tox better?
Tox 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 Solanum and Tox free and open-source?
Yes. Solanum is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Tox under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Solanum and Tox with Docker?
Solanum: check the project docs for container support. Tox: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Solanum or Tox?
Tox has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Solanum. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.