head to head · open source
Fluxer vs Zen
Fluxer has 10,318 GitHub stars, 760 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped today. Zen has 4,225 stars, 143 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Fluxer leads on adoption by 144% (10,318 vs 4,225 stars). Fluxer is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Zen is written in Go under MIT. Fluxer has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Zen 3%. Fluxer 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
| Fluxer | Zen | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 10K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 760 | ⑂ 143 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Fluxer if
- You weight community size — 10K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Zen if
- You want the Zen feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Zen fits your workflow better
About Fluxer
Fluxer is a free and open source instant messaging and VoIP chat application built for friends, groups, and communities. The project's tagline describes it as messaging with privacy and community focus, and the GitHub description repeats the same core purpose. The repository is written in TypeScript and is distributed under the AGPL 3.0 license.
read the full Fluxer overview →
About Zen
Zen is an open source desktop application written in Go for Windows, macOS, and Linux under the MIT license. It operates as a system wide ad blocker and privacy guard, so it applies to traffic from applications on the machine rather than only to browser tabs. It lives in the desktop security and privacy ecosystem, where users want filtering without browser extensions.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Fluxer or Zen more popular?
Fluxer has 10,318 GitHub stars and Zen has 4,225. Fluxer has the larger community by that measure.
Are Fluxer and Zen free?
Both are open source. Fluxer is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Zen under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Fluxer and Zen?
Fluxer is written in TypeScript and Zen 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, Fluxer or Zen?
Choose Fluxer if you want the larger community (10,318 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Zen if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.