About JuggleIM
JuggleIM is a high-performance, scalable instant messaging backend that you host yourself. It is built on a Protobuf and WebSocket long-connection protocol and focuses on efficient message delivery and reliable storage, so teams can add chat to an app, website or business system quickly.
The server supports private chat, group chat and chatrooms, exposes WebSocket and REST APIs, and offers multi-tenant operation, with SDKs for client platforms. It is positioned for social products, customer-service systems and similar use cases. Documentation includes a quick deploy guide, an API reference and an introduction, and the code is written in Go.
JuggleIM is licensed under Apache-2.0 and deployed on your own servers, which keeps message data in your control. It suits product teams that need to embed real-time messaging without relying on a third-party chat service.
Key features
- Private chat, groups and chatrooms
- WebSocket and REST APIs
- Protobuf-based long-connection protocol
- Support for multiple tenants
- Reliable message storage
- Quick deploy guide
Good fit for
- →Embedding chat in a mobile or web app
- →Customer service messaging backends
- Built with
- Go
- Tags
- instant-messaging
- chat-server
- websocket
- golang
- self-hosted
- real-time
- multi-tenant
JuggleIM: questions and answers
- What is JuggleIM used for?
- JuggleIM is a self-hosted instant messaging server written in Go, offering private chat, groups and chatrooms over WebSocket and REST APIs. It is a good fit for embedding chat in a mobile or web app and customer service messaging backends.
- Is JuggleIM open source?
- Yes. JuggleIM is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at juggleim/im-server and is written mainly in Go.
- Is JuggleIM free?
- Yes. JuggleIM is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
- Can I self-host JuggleIM?
- Yes. JuggleIM can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
- What is JuggleIM an alternative to?
- JuggleIM is an open-source alternative to Sendbird, Stream, PubNub and CometChat. Other open-source alternatives to Sendbird include WuKongIM, OpenIM and LiveKit.
- Is JuggleIM actively maintained?
- Yes. The most recent commit to JuggleIM was on 28 September 2026, and the latest release is v1.8.16, published on 24 August 2026. The project has 3.5k stars on GitHub.
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