Campfire

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), released as fully free and open source under the MIT license in August 2025. It covers the essentials — rooms, direct messages, @mentions, search — without the feature sprawl of larger platforms, and there's no subscription: you install it once and own the deployment.

Core features

• Rooms — both private and open-to-everyone rooms for organizing conversation.
• Direct messages and @mentions for one-to-one and targeted conversation.
• Search and dark mode built in.
• Bot support via HTTP API — a simple webhook-style interface for custom integrations rather than a full app marketplace.
• Progressive Web App — installable mobile experience with push notifications, no native app store release needed.
• Single-command install — designed to be deployed with one CLI command, on a laptop, a server in a closet, or a cloud VM (AWS, DigitalOcean, Hetzner), including air-gapped networks with no internet access.

Campfire vs Rocket.Chat

	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
Voice/video	None	Built in
Best for	Small teams wanting simplicity	Organizations needing an all-in-one platform

Use cases

• Small teams and agencies who want the simplest possible self-hosted chat and don't need voice/video or app integrations.
• Anyone who wants to fully own and read the entire codebase of the chat tool they depend on.
• Resource-constrained deployments — Campfire's own sizing guide scales from 2GB RAM / 1 CPU for 250 users up to 64GB RAM / 32 CPU for 10,000 users, so you can right-size the server to your team.

Limitations

• No voice or video calling at all — it's text chat only, by design.
• No topic threading (unlike Zulip) and no granular roles/permissions system — Campfire trades features for simplicity.
• No built-in SSO; identity and access management are minimal compared to enterprise-oriented tools like Wire or Rocket.Chat.

Which one should you choose?

• Want the simplest possible self-hosted chat you can fully understand and operate? Campfire is built exactly for that.
• Need voice, video, integrations, and a broader feature set? Rocket.Chat covers more ground.
• Need topic-based organization for high message volume? Zulip is a better fit than Campfire's flat rooms.

FAQ

Is Campfire free and open source?

Yes. Since August 2025, Campfire is free and open source under the MIT license — there's no subscription and no separate paid version currently offered.

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 and a much smaller operational footprint.

What are the top open-source alternatives to Slack?

Browse more open-source alternatives to Slack, or explore the full Communication & Community category.

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Mise à jour par Maxime, le 25/07/2026.