head to head · open source
chatbox vs tmi.js
chatbox has 42,247 GitHub stars, 4,307 forks, 1,290 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. tmi.js has 1,590 stars, 202 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. chatbox leads on adoption by 2,557% (42,247 vs 1,590 stars). chatbox is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; tmi.js is written in JavaScript under MIT. chatbox has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, tmi.js 13%. chatbox was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (chatbot), 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.
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Side by side
| chatbox | tmi.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2025-11-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.3K | ⑂ 202 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chatbox if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick tmi.js if
- You want the tmi.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and tmi.js fits your workflow better
About chatbox
English 简体中文 Chatbox (Community Edition) Your Ultimate AI Copilot on the Desktop. Chatbox is a desktop client for ChatGPT, Claude and other LLMs, available on Windows, Mac, Linux This is the repository for the Chatbox Community Edition, open sourced under the GPLv3 license. Chatbox is going open source Again! We regularly sync code from the pro repo to this repo, and vice versa. Download Desktop Windows MacOS Linux Setup.exe Intel Apple Silicon AppImage iOS/Android .APK For more information: chatboxai.app Quick Start For End Users 1. Download the appropriate installer for your platform from the releases page 2…
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About tmi.js
tmi.js Website Documentation currently at tmijs/docs Changelog on the release page Install Node Browser Available as " tmi " on window . Prebuilt Browser Releases Release page Build Yourself Type Definitions Community Follow @AlcaMagic on Twitter, Alca on Twitch. Follow @Schmoopiie on Twitter. Found a bug: submit an issue. Discussion and help about tmi.js: Twitch API Discord Server For everything else: Official TwitchDev Discord Server Contributors Thanks to all of the tmi.js contributors! Contributing guidelines Please review the guidelines for contributing of the tmi.js repository. We reserve the right to…
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Frequently asked questions
Is chatbox or tmi.js more popular?
chatbox has 42,247 GitHub stars and tmi.js has 1,590. chatbox has the larger community by that measure.
Are chatbox and tmi.js free?
Both are open source. chatbox is licensed under GPL-3.0 and tmi.js under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chatbox and tmi.js?
chatbox is written in TypeScript and tmi.js 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, chatbox or tmi.js?
Choose chatbox if you want the larger community (42,247 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose tmi.js if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.