Ergo vs Novu
| Tagline | Modern IRCv3 server in Go combining ircd, services framework, and bouncer | Open-source notification infrastructure for multi-channel developer alerts |
| Category | Team Chat & Collaboration | Team Chat & Collaboration |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Slack, Microsoft Teams |
| GitHub stars | 3.2k | 39k |
| Language | Go | Docker |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Docker Manual | Docker Docker Compose |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 7 days ago | today |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Ergo
- IRC protocol only; no voice, video, reactions, or rich embeds expected by modern chat users.
- No web client included; users need a separate IRC client (WeeChat, HexChat, etc.) or an IRC-to-web bridge.
- Message history is limited and not searchable at scale compared to Slack's enterprise search.
- No integrations with productivity tools (calendars, task managers, CI/CD) without external bridges.
Novu
- Not a real-time team chat; it is a notification delivery layer, not a conversation platform.
- Self-hosted setup requires Postgres, MongoDB, Redis, and S3-compatible storage, adding operational burden.
- Managed cloud features (advanced analytics, SLA guarantees) are not available in the open-source edition.
- Mobile SDK for in-app notifications has fewer features than commercial equivalents like OneSignal.
Bottom line
Both are a similar lift to self-host; choose Novu for the larger community and ecosystem. Novu has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.