head to head · open source
Rocket.Chat vs partykit
Rocket.Chat has 46,133 GitHub stars, 13,891 forks, 4,023 open issues and last shipped yesterday. partykit has 5,710 stars, 200 forks, 93 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. Rocket.Chat leads on adoption by 708% (46,133 vs 5,710 stars). Rocket.Chat is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; partykit is written in TypeScript under MIT. Rocket.Chat has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, partykit 4%. Rocket.Chat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (collaboration, real-time), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Rocket.Chat | partykit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 5.7K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-01-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 14K | ⑂ 200 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Rocket.Chat if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick partykit if
- You want the partykit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and partykit fits your workflow better
About Rocket.Chat
Rocket.Chat is an open source, self hostable team communications platform written in TypeScript that gives organisations full ownership of their messaging, voice, and federation infrastructure instead of renting it from a closed SaaS vendor.
read the full Rocket.Chat overview →
About partykit
PartyKit is an open source, MIT licensed TypeScript framework and cloud platform for building multiplayer and real time applications, aimed at developers who want to add collaborative or live features without operating real time infrastructure themselves.
read the full partykit overview →
More in Business Software
Related comparisons
More Collaboration & Communication projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Collaboration & Communication field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Rocket.Chat or partykit more popular?
Rocket.Chat has 46,133 GitHub stars and partykit has 5,710. Rocket.Chat has the larger community by that measure.
Are Rocket.Chat and partykit free?
Both are open source. Rocket.Chat has no licence declared in this registry, and partykit is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Rocket.Chat and partykit?
Rocket.Chat is written in TypeScript and partykit 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, Rocket.Chat or partykit?
Choose Rocket.Chat if you want the larger community (46,133 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose partykit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.