ShieldsvsSimpleX Chat
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Shields | SimpleX Chat | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 80/100 | 74/100 |
| Rank in category | #6 of 166 in Developer Tools | #4 of 110 in Chat |
| GitHub stars | 27 331 | 19 614 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +125 | +141 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 0 | 12 |
| Latest release | — | v7.0.4 · 3 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Easy | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | JavaScript | Haskell |
Which one should you pick?
Shields scores 80/100 against 74/100 for SimpleX Chat, so it is the safer default.
SimpleX Chat ships more often: 12 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for Shields.
If you want the quickest setup, Shields is easier to run; SimpleX Chat needs more configuration.
Shields details →SimpleX Chat details →