head to head · open source
Buzz vs chat
Buzz has 33,704 GitHub stars, 4,429 forks, 3,556 open issues and last shipped today. chat has 13,512 stars, 2,079 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Buzz leads on adoption by 149% (33,704 vs 13,512 stars). Buzz is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; chat is written in Go under GPL-3.0. Buzz has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, chat 15%. Buzz was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Buzz | chat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 14K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Buzz if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick chat if
- You want the chat feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and chat fits your workflow better
About Buzz
Buzz is a self hostable workspace platform where humans and AI agents collaborate in shared rooms, using a single Nostr based event log as the underlying data model. It unifies team chat, project management, and agent automation into one coherent interface, replacing fragmented tools with a unified protocol for events like messages, code patches, CI results, workflow steps, and approvals. Built in Rust and licensed under Apache 2.0, it runs as a single relay deployment per community or as a multi tenant hosted service sharing infrastructure while preserving strict community boundaries.
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.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Buzz or chat more popular?
Buzz has 33,704 GitHub stars and chat has 13,512. Buzz has the larger community by that measure.
Are Buzz and chat free?
Both are open source. Buzz is licensed under Apache-2.0 and chat under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Buzz and chat?
Buzz is written in Rust and chat in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Buzz or chat?
Choose Buzz if you want the larger community (33,704 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose chat if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.