Own Your
Communication
Spokes is the simple, fully-featured self-hosted alternative to popular cloud chat apps. A powerful chat platform that runs entirely on your own infrastructure. Easy control and ownership of your data.
Built for Absolute Privacy
Your data is stored entirely on your own server. You completely own it.
Single Container Deploy
Spokes Server, LiveKit and an optionnal Casdoor instance run perfectly together inside a single, easy-to-manage Docker container.
Encrypted Channels
Encryption can be enabled for any channels. This is to protect private conversations against a server owner looking directly in the database. It also protects private conversations if your server's backup ever leaks.
Free Native Mobile Apps
Connect to your server from anywhere with free iOS and Android apps. Making it easy to onboard new users and stay connected on the go.
Encrypted Push Notifications
Getting a notification on your phone requires passing data through the Spokes relay, and then through Apple or Google's servers. With Spokes, all notification payloads are encrypted before they leave your server and then decrypted by your device on arrival. Your data is protected in transit.
- No readable data in Spokes/Apple/Google relays
- Instantly decrypts locally on your device
Voice & Video Built-In
Jump into low-latency, high-quality voice and video channels directly on your server. No third-party services required. Any channel can be a voice/video channel. Users can join and leave whenever they want.
- Crystal clear audio and video via LiveKit
- No external third-party routing
.png)
Easy to self-host
Single Docker deployment with minimal configuration (only ports and datapath). Spokes, LiveKit and an optional pre-configured Casdoor instance in a single container. The server also supports any other OpenID IdP (Authentik, Authelia, Keycloak, etc.).
- The same architecture that makes Spokes fast, easy to install and backup also makes it unsuitable for enterprise or very large communities. It is highly optimized for teams, families, and communities of up to ~100 users.
- Easy to backup, very resilient and simple file and folder database structure.
Is Spokes an alternative to Discord or Slack?
Yes and no. Spokes is designed to be a lightweight, private, and fully self-hosted alternative to popular cloud chat apps. However, we do not aim for 1-to-1 feature parity with enterprise giants like Discord or Slack.
What we don't have
- Massive bot ecosystems
- 10,000-user server scaling
- Complex enterprise integrations
- Public social networking features
What we do have
- Absolute data privacy & ownership
- End-to-end encrypted push notifications
- Built-in voice and video channels
- Dead-simple single-container deployment
If you need a private space for your family, friends, or a small to medium-sized team, Spokes is built specifically for you.
Ready to own your data?
Get started today with a single Docker command and bring your friends, family or team together on a platform you completely control.
Try Spokes Today