head to head · open source
nats-server vs Telephone
nats-server has 20,755 GitHub stars, 1,964 forks, 472 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Telephone has 1,169 stars, 233 forks, 132 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. nats-server leads on adoption by 1,675% (20,755 vs 1,169 stars). nats-server is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Telephone is written in Swift under GPL-3.0. nats-server has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Telephone 20%. 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 | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 233 |
| 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 Telephone if
- You want the Telephone feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and Telephone fits your workflow better
About nats-server
nats server is the Go based, Apache 2.0 licensed server at the heart of NATS, a simple, secure and performant communications system for digital systems, services and devices, aimed at teams building distributed systems, microservices, and cloud, edge or connected vehicle deployments that need messaging without running heavyweight broker infrastructure.
read the full nats-server overview →
About Telephone
Telephone is a GPL 3.0 licensed VoIP SIP softphone for macOS, written in Swift, that lets anyone whose phone line speaks SIP place and answer calls over the Internet or a company network from a Mac instead of a physical phone.
read the full Telephone overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nats-server or Telephone more popular?
nats-server has 20,755 GitHub stars and Telephone has 1,169. nats-server has the larger community by that measure.
Are nats-server and Telephone free?
Both are open source. nats-server is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Telephone under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nats-server and Telephone?
nats-server is written in Go and Telephone in Swift. 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 Telephone?
Choose nats-server if you want the larger community (20,755 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Telephone if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.