UnrealIRCd
Modular, advanced and highly configurable IRC server written in C for Linux, BSD, Windows, and macOS.
Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Still maintained? Yes: 88 commits in the last 90 days.
At a glance
UnrealIRCd quick facts
- Health score
- 56/100 SLOWING
- Stars
- 527
- Last commit
- 7 days ago (Oct 2026)
- Latest release
- No tagged release
- Licence
- GPL-2.0
Top alternatives to UnrealIRCd
In its own words
The project's README opens: "UnrealIRCd 6 is the stable series since December 2021. It is the only supported version. For full details of release scheduling and EOL dates, see UnrealIRCd releases on the wiki."
Why it ranks here
Health score explained
UnrealIRCd scores 56/100, #6 of 11 in Communication - IRC: 88 commits in the last 90 days earn 35.0 of 35 points, the absence of a tagged release forfeits all 25 release points, 527 stars add 10.9 of 20, an active, unarchived repository keeps 10 and no advertised Docker image leaves the final 10 unclaimed. That places it in the slowing band (40 to 69). The biggest shortfall is release recency, worth 25.0 more points.
Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.
Health over time
- Commit activity 35.0 / 35
88 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)
- Release recency biggest shortfall 0.0 / 25
No tagged release found
- Stars 10.9 / 20
527 stars on GitHub (logarithmic)
- Not archived 10.0 / 10
Repository is active
- Docker support 0.0 / 10
No Docker support advertised
Commit activity
- 88
- Last 90 days
- 411
- Last 12 months
- 7 days ago
- Last push
Ranked #6 of 11 tools in Communication - IRC by health , between ZNC (#5) and ngircd (#7) .
Details
| Licence | GPL-2.0 |
| Platforms | C |
| Latest release | No tagged release |
| Stars | 527 |
| Open issues | 0 |
| Docker | Not advertised |
| Repository | unrealircd/unrealircd ↗ |
UnrealIRCd vs its top 5 alternatives
Active tools that share a category with UnrealIRCd (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 | 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 (this tool) | 56 | 527 | GPL-2.0 | 7 days ago |
UnrealIRCd: common questions
Is UnrealIRCd still maintained?
UnrealIRCd had 88 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was 7 days ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.