Ergo
Modern IRCv3 server written in Go, combining the features of an ircd, a services framework, and a bouncer.
Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Still maintained? Yes: 23 commits in the last 90 days, latest release v2.19.1 (Aug 2026).
At a glance
Ergo quick facts
- Health score
- 86/100 GOOD
- Stars
- 3,357
- Last commit
- 8 days ago (Oct 2026)
- Latest release
- v2.19.1, Aug 2026
- Licence
- MIT
Top alternatives to Ergo
In its own words
The project's README opens: "If you want to take a look at a running Ergo instance or test some client code, feel free to play with testnet.ergo.chat (TLS on port 6697 or plaintext on port 6667)."
Why it ranks here
Health score explained
Ergo scores 86/100, #3 of 11 in Communication - IRC: 23 commits in the last 90 days earn 26.8 of 35 points, the latest release (v2.19.1, 3 months ago) earns 25.0 of 25, 3,357 stars add 14.1 of 20, an active, unarchived repository keeps 10 and Docker support adds the final 10. That places it in the good band (70 and above). The biggest shortfall is commit activity, worth 8.2 more points.
Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.
- Commit activity biggest shortfall 26.8 / 35
23 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)
- Release recency 25.0 / 25
v2.19.1 released 3 months ago
- Stars 14.1 / 20
3.4k stars on GitHub (logarithmic)
- Not archived 10.0 / 10
Repository is active
- Docker support 10.0 / 10
Docker image or Compose file available
Commit activity
- 23
- Last 90 days
- 165
- Last 12 months
- 8 days ago
- Last push
Ranked #3 of 11 tools in Communication - IRC by health , between InspIRCd (#2) and The Lounge (#4) .
Details
| Licence | MIT |
| Platforms | Go, Docker |
| Latest release | v2.19.1 · 3 months ago |
| Stars | 3,357 |
| Open issues | 200 |
| Docker | Yes |
| Repository | ergochat/ergo ↗ |
Ergo vs its top 5 alternatives
Active tools that share a category with Ergo (Communication - IRC), scored on the same five terms.
| Tool | Health | Stars | Licence | Last commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weechat | 94 | 3.4k | GPL-3.0 | yesterday |
| InspIRCd | 93 | 1.4k | GPL-2.0 | 6 days ago |
| Ergo (this tool) | 86 | 3.4k | MIT | 8 days ago |
| The Lounge | 85 | 6.4k | MIT | yesterday |
| ZNC | 58 | 2.1k | Apache-2.0 | 2 days ago |
| UnrealIRCd | 56 | 527 | GPL-2.0 | 7 days ago |
Ergo: common questions
Is Ergo still maintained?
Ergo had 23 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was 8 days ago; the latest tagged release, v2.19.1, is from 3 months ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.
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