ChatLayout by ekazaev
ChatLayout is an alternative solution to MessageKit. It uses custom UICollectionViewLayout to provide you full control over the presentation as well as all the tools available in UICollectionView. It supports dynamic cells and supplementary view sizes.
About ChatLayout
From the project's README at github.com/ekazaev/ChatLayout. Lightly cleaned for readability; for the full source see the upstream repo.
[](https://github.com/ekazaev/ChatLayout/releases) [](https://cocoapods.org/pods/ChatLayout) [](https://ekazaev.github.io/ChatLayout/) [](https://codecov.io/gh/ekazaev/ChatLayout) [](https://www.codacy.com/gh/ekazaev/ChatLayout/dashboard?utmsource=github.com utmmedium=referral utmcontent=ekazaev/ChatLayout utmcampaign=Badge_Grade) [](https://github.com/apple/swift-package-manager) [](https://github.com/Carthage/Carthage) [](https://developer.apple.com/swift) [](https://www.apple.com/ios) Table of contents About Features
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 | 1.0k | github.com/ekazaev/ChatLayout |
| GitHub forks | 81 | github.com/ekazaev/ChatLayout |
Release & maintenance
Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.
| Project age | 5.8 years | since Jul 2020 |
| Last commit | 8 days ago | Apr 29, 2026 |
| Releases shipped | 100 | last: 8 days ago |
| Funding links | 1 | declared by maintainers |
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 → |
Ready to self-host ChatLayout?
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.
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