Chat SDK for iOS v5 by chat-sdk
Chat SDK iOS - Open Source Mobile Messenger
About Chat SDK for iOS v5
From the project's README at github.com/chat-sdk/chat-sdk-ios. Lightly cleaned for readability; for the full source see the upstream repo.
Chat SDK is a fully featured open source instant messaging framework for iOS. Chat SDK is backend agnostic and supports Firebase and XMPP. Chat SDK is fully featured, scalable and flexible and follows the following key principles: Free. Open Source. Full control of the data. You have full and exclusive access to the user's chat data Quick integration. Chat SDK is fully featured out of the box Scalable. Supports millons of daily users [1, 2] Backend agnostic. Supports Firebase and XMPP (ejabberd, Prosody, MongooseIM, Tigase, OpenFire)
--> Features Powered by Firebase or XMPP Private and group messages Public chat rooms Username / password, Social, Anonymous and custom login [Phone number authentication](https://github.c
Health score breakdown
6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.
Adoption signals
Real-world usage data, pulled from each registry. The bigger the numbers, the more battle-tested the project.
| Signal | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 922 | github.com/chat-sdk/chat-sdk-ios |
| GitHub forks | 276 | github.com/chat-sdk/chat-sdk-ios |
Release & maintenance
Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.
| Project age | 9.4 years | since Dec 2016 |
| Last commit | 5 months ago | Dec 3, 2025 |
Self-hosting cost across providers
Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk minimum. Cheapest plan per provider that meets the requirement.
| Provider | Plan | Specs | Monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hetzner | CAX11 | 2c · 4GB · 40GB | $4.13 USD | Deploy → |
| vultr | VC2 | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $5 USD | Deploy → |
| linode | Nanode 1GB | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $5.12 USD | Deploy → |
| digitalocean | Basic Regular 1GB | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $6 USD | Deploy → |
Replaces these paid SaaS
Chat SDK for iOS v5 is one of the open-source alternatives to:
Ready to self-host Chat SDK for iOS v5?
Spin up a hetzner CAX11 (4GB RAM, 40GB disk) for $4.13/mo and follow the project's official install docs.
Data last refreshed May 7, 2026.
Similar open-source projects
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