head to head · open source
goflylivechat vs bytedesk
goflylivechat has 2,591 GitHub stars, 729 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped 1.1 years ago. bytedesk has 500 stars, 141 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. goflylivechat leads on adoption by 418% (2,591 vs 500 stars). goflylivechat is written in HTML under Apache-2.0; bytedesk is written in Java under AGPL-3.0. goflylivechat has attracted 28% as many forks as stars, bytedesk 28%. bytedesk was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (chatbot, customer-support, livechat), 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
| goflylivechat | bytedesk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.6K | ★ 500 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | HTML | Java |
| Last push | 2025-09-04 | 2026-09-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 729 | ⑂ 141 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick goflylivechat if
- You weight community size — 2.6K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick bytedesk if
- You want the bytedesk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and bytedesk fits your workflow better
About goflylivechat
GOFLY LIVE CHAT is an open source live chat support system written in Go for self hosted customer service workloads. It belongs to the Go web application ecosystem and targets private cloud deployments where an organization runs its own messaging backend, database, and web frontend instead of relying on a hosted support platform.
read the full goflylivechat overview →
About bytedesk
Bytedesk is an open source, AI powered omnichannel customer service and team messaging platform written in Java, aimed at organizations that want to self host their own live chat, ticketing, and internal IM stack.
read the full bytedesk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is goflylivechat or bytedesk more popular?
goflylivechat has 2,591 GitHub stars and bytedesk has 500. goflylivechat has the larger community by that measure.
Are goflylivechat and bytedesk free?
Both are open source. goflylivechat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and bytedesk under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between goflylivechat and bytedesk?
goflylivechat is written in HTML and bytedesk in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, goflylivechat or bytedesk?
Choose goflylivechat if you want the larger community (2,591 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose bytedesk if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.