head to head · open source
Jitsi vs chitchatter
Jitsi has 29,931 GitHub stars, 8,026 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chitchatter has 2,330 stars, 434 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jitsi leads on adoption by 1,185% (29,931 vs 2,330 stars). Jitsi is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; chitchatter is written in TypeScript under GPL-2.0. Jitsi has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, chitchatter 19%. Jitsi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (video-conferencing), 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
| Jitsi | chitchatter | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.0K | ⑂ 434 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Jitsi if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick chitchatter if
- You want the chitchatter feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and chitchatter fits your workflow better
About Jitsi
Jitsi Meet is an open source video conferencing platform built on WebRTC standards, designed for privacy focused, account free video calls. It operates as a standalone web application or embeddable component, supporting both browser based and native mobile usage without requiring user accounts to join meetings. The project lives in the video communication ecosystem, competing directly with proprietary services like Zoom, Google Meet, and Slack’s built in calling.
read the full Jitsi overview →
About chitchatter
Chitchatter is a TypeScript web chat application released under GPL 2.0 that provides secure peer to peer communication without a required central API server. It lives in the decentralized web mesh ecosystem, using React, WebRTC, Trystero, WebTorrent, and TURN relays to connect browsers directly. The project is a free, open source collaboration tool for private conversations, video and audio chats, screen sharing, and file transfer.
read the full chitchatter overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jitsi or chitchatter more popular?
Jitsi has 29,931 GitHub stars and chitchatter has 2,330. Jitsi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jitsi and chitchatter free?
Both are open source. Jitsi is licensed under Apache-2.0 and chitchatter under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Jitsi and chitchatter?
Jitsi is written in TypeScript and chitchatter in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Jitsi or chitchatter?
Choose Jitsi if you want the larger community (29,931 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose chitchatter if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.