head to head · open source
chat vs bigbluebutton
chat has 13,512 GitHub stars, 2,079 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. bigbluebutton has 9,223 stars, 5,982 forks, 721 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. chat leads on adoption by 47% (13,512 vs 9,223 stars). chat is written in Go under GPL-3.0; bigbluebutton is written in JavaScript under LGPL-3.0. chat has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, bigbluebutton 65%. bigbluebutton was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (collaboration), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| chat | bigbluebutton | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 9.2K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 6.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chat if
- You weight community size — 14K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick bigbluebutton if
- You want the bigbluebutton feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and bigbluebutton fits your workflow better
About chat
Tinode is an open source, full stack instant messaging server that pairs a Go backend with native iOS, Android, web, and command line clients, built for developers and operators who want to run or federate their own messaging platform rather than rent one.
About bigbluebutton
BigBlueButton is an open source web conferencing system built for virtual classes, described by its maintainers as an open source virtual classroom designed to help teachers teach and learners learn. It lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and is distributed under the LGPL 3.0 license. The project has been developed for roughly sixteen years, carries 9,215 stars and 5,978 forks on GitHub, and its latest release is BigBlueButton 3.0. It supports real time sharing of audio, video, slides with whiteboard annotations, chat, and screen, and it ships with GreenLight as its default front end.
read the full bigbluebutton overview →
More in Business Software
Related comparisons
More Collaboration & Communication projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Collaboration & Communication field.
Frequently asked questions
Is chat or bigbluebutton more popular?
chat has 13,512 GitHub stars and bigbluebutton has 9,223. chat has the larger community by that measure.
Are chat and bigbluebutton free?
Both are open source. chat is licensed under GPL-3.0 and bigbluebutton under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chat and bigbluebutton?
chat is written in Go and bigbluebutton in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, chat or bigbluebutton?
Choose chat if you want the larger community (13,512 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose bigbluebutton if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.