#61 in Collaboration & CommunicationUpdated 2026-08

Campfire

by Campfire · Self-hosted group chat you install and own, source included

29.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

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Overview

Campfire is a self-hosted group chat system installed on your own server via the ONCE CLI. It offers rooms that are private or open to the whole organisation, DMs, @mentions, saved searches, dark mode and mobile web access. The source is MIT-licensed, so it can be modified, and chatbots can be built against an HTTP API.

Best for: Teams wanting internal group chat on a server they run themselves, without a recurring subscription.
Pricing: The software is free — 100% free and open source under the MIT Licence, including updates; you provide the server yourself and no hosting costs are given.
Runs on: AndroidSelf-hosted

Strengths and trade-offs

Strengths

Free and open source under the MIT Licence; code included
Installed with a single ONCE CLI command
Runs on air-gapped networks with no outside internet
Chatbots supported via an HTTP API for messages and files

Trade-offs

No Slack or Teams import — Campfire is a fresh start
You supply and maintain the server; RAM scales with user count
No native iOS or Android apps; mobile web or PWA only
Installs ping the vendor daily for auto-updates unless disabled

Pricing

Published plans from Campfire’s own pricing page, in USD. Usage charges and add-ons may apply on top.

Campfire pricing tiers, monthly rates in USD
Plan	Monthly	Includes
Campfire	—	100% free Easy installation Free updates Open source — you get the code

How this score is made up

Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.

MCP support: 0 out of 100
Documentation: 0 out of 100
Agent friendliness: 53 out of 100
Changelog: 100 out of 100
Marketing site structure: 55 out of 100
Operational trust: 0 out of 100

Measured, but not part of the score

Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.

Openness: 60 out of 100
Maintenance: 100 out of 100

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