Campfire: Open Source Alternative to Slack and Rocket.Chat

Campfire is a deliberately simple, self-hosted group chat app from 37signals (the makers of Basecamp). Originally sold as a one-time purchase, it was released as open source under the MIT license in August 2025. It covers the essentials — rooms, direct messages, @mentions, search, file sharing — without the feature sprawl of larger platforms.

What is Campfire?

Campfire is a good fit for small teams that want a lightweight, no-subscription chat they fully own and can read the entire codebase of. It's a Ruby on Rails app designed to be easy to deploy and run on a single server, in contrast to more feature-heavy tools like Rocket.Chat.

Campfire vs Rocket.Chat

Feature	Campfire	Rocket.Chat
License	MIT	MIT
Scope	Minimal — rooms, DMs, mentions	Full platform — voice, video, apps, AI
Complexity	Very low, single Rails app	Higher, more moving parts
Best for	Small teams wanting simplicity	Organizations needing an all-in-one platform

Choose Campfire if you want the simplest possible self-hosted chat you can fully understand and own. Choose Rocket.Chat if you need voice, video, integrations, and a broader feature set.

At a glance

Attribute	Details
License	MIT
Category	Collaboration
Stack	Ruby on Rails
Self-hosted	Yes
Alternatives	Slack, Rocket.Chat, Discord

FAQ

Is Campfire free and open source?

Yes. Since August 2025, Campfire is free and open source under the MIT license, though 37signals also still offers a paid one-time bundle with hosting tooling.

How does Campfire compare to Rocket.Chat?

Campfire is intentionally minimal — rooms, DMs, and mentions in a single Rails app — while Rocket.Chat is a full communication platform with voice, video, integrations, and AI. Campfire trades features for simplicity.

What are the top open-source alternatives to Slack?

Browse more open-source alternatives to Slack, or explore the full Collaboration category.