Tinode
Instant messaging platform. Backend in Go. Clients: Swift iOS, Java Android, JS webapp, scriptable command line; chatbots.
Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Still maintained? Yes: 36 commits in the last 90 days, latest release v0.25.3 (Jul 2026).
Also an alternative to Slack and WhatsApp.
At a glance
Tinode quick facts
- Health score
- 87/100 GOOD
- Stars
- 13,543
- Last commit
- 5 days ago (Oct 2026)
- Latest release
- v0.25.3, Jul 2026
- Licence
- GPL-3.0
Top alternatives to Tinode
Full rankings: Slack alternatives, WhatsApp alternatives
In its own words
The project's README opens: "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."
Why it ranks here
Health score explained
Tinode scores 87/100, #20 of 44 in Communication - Custom Communication Systems: 36 commits in the last 90 days earn 35.0 of 35 points, the latest release (v0.25.3, 4 months ago) earns 25.0 of 25, 13,543 stars add 16.5 of 20, an active, unarchived repository keeps 10 and no advertised Docker image leaves the final 10 unclaimed. That places it in the good band (70 and above). The biggest shortfall is Docker support, worth 10.0 more points.
Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.
- Commit activity 35.0 / 35
36 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)
- Release recency 25.0 / 25
v0.25.3 released 4 months ago
- Stars 16.5 / 20
14k stars on GitHub (logarithmic)
- Not archived 10.0 / 10
Repository is active
- Docker support biggest shortfall 0.0 / 10
No Docker support advertised
Commit activity
- 36
- Last 90 days
- 109
- Last 12 months
- 5 days ago
- Last push
Ranked #20 of 44 tools in Communication - Custom Communication Systems by health , between SimpleX Chat (#19) and Mumble (#21) .
Details
| Licence | GPL-3.0 |
| Platforms | Go |
| Latest release | v0.25.3 · 4 months ago |
| Stars | 13,543 |
| Open issues | 38 |
| Docker | Not advertised |
| Repository | tinode/chat ↗ |
Tinode vs its top 5 alternatives
Active tools that share a comparison page or a category with Tinode (Communication - Custom Communication Systems), scored on the same five terms.
| Tool | Health | Stars | Licence | Last commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocket.Chat | 99 | 46k | MIT | today |
| Chatwoot | 98 | 39k | ⊘ Proprietary | today |
| Mattermost | 98 | 39k | ⊘ Proprietary | today |
| ejabberd | 95 | 6.7k | GPL-2.0 | 2 days ago |
| Element | 87 | 14k | Apache-2.0 | today |
| Tinode (this tool) | 87 | 14k | GPL-3.0 | 5 days ago |
Tinode: common questions
What does Tinode replace?
Repoly lists Tinode as an open-source alternative to Slack and WhatsApp. Each comparison page ranks every alternative by the same health score, so you can see where Tinode stands against the others.
Is Tinode still maintained?
Tinode had 36 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was 5 days ago; the latest tagged release, v0.25.3, is from 4 months ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.