head to head · open source
nats-server vs MadelineProto
nats-server has 20,989 GitHub stars, 2,025 forks, 472 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MadelineProto has 3,551 stars, 931 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nats-server leads on adoption by 491% (20,989 vs 3,551 stars). nats-server is written in Go under Apache-2.0; MadelineProto is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. nats-server has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, MadelineProto 26%. nats-server 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
| nats-server | MadelineProto | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 931 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nats-server if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick MadelineProto if
- You want the MadelineProto feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and MadelineProto fits your workflow better
About nats-server
NATS is a simple, secure and performant communications system for digital systems, services and devices. NATS is part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). NATS has over 40 client language implementations, and its server can run on premise, in the cloud, at the edge, and even on a Raspberry Pi. NATS can secure and simplify design and operation of modern distributed systems. [![License][License Image]][License Url] [![Build][Build Status Image]][Build Status Url] [![Release][Release Image]][Release Url] [![Slack][Slack Image]][Slack Url] [![Coverage][Coverage Image]][Coverage Url] [![Docker…
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About MadelineProto
MadelineProto, a PHP MTProto telegram client Created by Daniil Gentili StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 Do join the official channel, @MadelineProto and the support groups! Approved by Telegram! What's this? This library can be used to easily interact with Telegram without the bot API, just like the official apps. It can login with a phone number (MTProto API), or with a bot token (MTProto API, no bot API involved! ). It is now fully async! Getting started (now fully async!) Try running this code in a browser or in a console! Tip: if you receive an error (or nothing), send us the error message and the MadelineProto.log…
read the full MadelineProto overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nats-server or MadelineProto more popular?
nats-server has 20,989 GitHub stars and MadelineProto has 3,551. nats-server has the larger community by that measure.
Are nats-server and MadelineProto free?
Both are open source. nats-server is licensed under Apache-2.0 and MadelineProto under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nats-server and MadelineProto?
nats-server is written in Go and MadelineProto in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, nats-server or MadelineProto?
Choose nats-server if you want the larger community (20,989 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose MadelineProto if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.