neko vs ntfy
| Tagline | Self-hosted virtual browser and screen share room for remote collaboration | Simple HTTP-based push notifications to phone and desktop, no account needed |
| Category | Team Chat & Collaboration | Team Chat & Collaboration |
| Replaces | Discord, Microsoft Teams | Slack, Microsoft Teams |
| GitHub stars | 8.7k | 31k |
| Language | Go | Go |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 2/5 Easy | 2/5 Easy |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose | Docker Docker Compose Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 1 month ago | 6 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
neko
- Primarily a screen-sharing tool; lacks persistent text chat or channels
- WebRTC requires open UDP ports, complicating setups behind strict firewalls
- No persistent user accounts or roles beyond admin/participant
ntfy
- No team chat, threading, or message history browsing; designed for one-way push alerts only.
- No rich message formatting, file sharing, or reactions.
- Rate limiting and attachment storage on the free public server are intentionally restrictive.
- iOS push requires routing through ntfy's own APNs proxy unless you self-compile the app.
Bottom line
Both are a similar lift to self-host; choose ntfy for the larger community and ecosystem. ntfy has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.