head to head · open source
chat vs openvidu
chat has 13,548 GitHub stars, 2,093 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. openvidu has 2,141 stars, 482 forks, 103 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. chat leads on adoption by 533% (13,548 vs 2,141 stars). chat is written in Go under GPL-3.0; openvidu is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. chat has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, openvidu 23%. openvidu was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (chat), 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
| chat | openvidu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-25 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 482 |
| 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 openvidu if
- You want the openvidu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and openvidu fits your workflow better
About chat
Tinode Instant Messaging Server Instant messaging full stack. Backend in pure Go (license GPL 3.0), clients for Android (Java), iOS (Swift), and web (ReactJS), as well as gRPC client support for C++, C , Go, Java, Node, PHP, Python, Ruby, Objective C, etc (all clients licensed under Apache 2.0). Wire transport is JSON over websocket (long polling is also available) or protobuf with gRPC. This is beta quality software: feature complete and stable but probably with a few bugs or missing features. Follow instructions to install and run or use one of the cloud services below. Read API documentation. Tinode is not…
About openvidu
[![][OpenViduLogo]]( openvidu === Visit openvidu.io What is OpenVidu? OpenVidu is a platform for building real time video conferencing applications. It's built on top of LiveKit and mediasoup, and is developed by a team with over a decade of experience building WebRTC systems. Self hosted : deploy it on your own infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle, DigitalOcean, on premises) or use it as a managed service. API compatible with LiveKit : use any LiveKit client/server SDK unchanged. OpenVidu Meet : a fully featured video conferencing app that ships on top of this platform, ready to use or embed. Advanced media…
read the full openvidu overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is chat or openvidu more popular?
chat has 13,548 GitHub stars and openvidu has 2,141. chat has the larger community by that measure.
Are chat and openvidu free?
Both are open source. chat is licensed under GPL-3.0 and openvidu under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chat and openvidu?
chat is written in Go and openvidu 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, chat or openvidu?
Choose chat if you want the larger community (13,548 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose openvidu if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.