head to head · open source
chat vs meet
chat has 13,512 GitHub stars, 2,079 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. meet has 2,376 stars, 289 forks, 183 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chat leads on adoption by 469% (13,512 vs 2,376 stars). chat is written in Go under GPL-3.0; meet is written in Python under MIT. chat has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, meet 12%. meet 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
| chat | meet | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 289 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chat if
- You weight community size — 14K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick meet if
- You want the meet feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and meet fits your workflow better
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.
About meet
La Suite Meet is an open source video conferencing application powered by LiveKit and built with Django and React. It lives in the open source WebRTC and collaboration software ecosystem, and it is released under the MIT License. The project provides browser based meetings without a required installation, and its public instances are used inside French public administration.
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Frequently asked questions
Is chat or meet more popular?
chat has 13,512 GitHub stars and meet has 2,376. chat has the larger community by that measure.
Are chat and meet free?
Both are open source. chat is licensed under GPL-3.0 and meet under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chat and meet?
chat is written in Go and meet in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, chat or meet?
Choose chat if you want the larger community (13,512 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose meet if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.