{"slug": "galene", "name": "Galene", "category": "communication", "category_name": "Email and chat", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.91, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2026-01-26", "latest": "2026-09-13", "why": "This one is often overlook but very good, I prefer it over Jitsi", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "This one is often overlook but very good, I prefer it over Jitsi", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": "galene.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://galene.org/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Galene"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 794860097, "item_id": 49678756, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49678756", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Very easy to set up, I run it on obsd(an unsupported platform) and it just works.", "excerpt": "If we are doing a survey of self hosted video conferencing services I would like to propose galene. Very easy to set up, I run it on obsd(an unsupported platform) and it just works. https://galene.org/", "context": "runs Galene on OpenBSD", "use_case": "Self-hosted video conferencing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux Zoom client proactively reading everything written to X11 clipboard"}, {"id": 751270593, "item_id": 46954412, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46954412", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-02-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have had a lot of success with Galene", "excerpt": "Hard to say, I don't really use discord so I think of it as voice chat as a service, and for pure voice chat it is hard to do better than mumble. However from the way people talk about discord, it is also a text chat screen sharing file server. and it is hard to find one product that does all that well. For video, both video chat and screen sharing I have had a lot of success with Galene, it offers text chat and file", "context": "", "use_case": "video chat and screen sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month"}, {"id": 749993088, "item_id": 46874568, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874568", "by": "kofu", "date": "2026-02-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This one is often overlook but very good, I prefer it over Jitsi", "excerpt": "This one is often overlook but very good, I prefer it over Jitsi https://galene.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US"}, {"id": 748301280, "item_id": 46768830, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46768830", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Galene has worked great for me", "excerpt": "For what it's worth, if you want a self hosted replacement for Zoom Galene has worked great for me, The server requirements are remarkably low, especially if you are like me and just need a personal video chat to a few people. I run it on an old apu-2 with openbsd(which is just about the worst combination and it still works great) As a bonus there is no client, that is, the client is just a web page so very low frict", "context": "", "use_case": "Self-hosted video chat", "switched_from": "", "story": "France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc."}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "somat", "context": "runs Galene on OpenBSD", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49678756", "date": "2026-09-13"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["self-hosted video conferencing", "video chat and screen sharing", "video conferencing", "self-hosted video chat"], "compared": [{"slug": "jitsi", "name": "Jitsi", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "openbsd", "name": "OpenBSD", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 773526960, "item_id": 48345435, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48345435", "by": "jech", "date": "2026-05-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Users naturally get frustrated when I break the software that they rely upon", "excerpt": "That's not my experience. Users naturally get frustrated when I break the software that they rely upon, and sometimes they use strong words, but the resulting conversation is almost always friendly and productive. (There are exceptions, of course, but that's life, right?) Here's a recent sample, paraphrased for brevity: Them: this is broken. Me: no, it's not broken. Them (a few days later): \"I think I must not have t", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Please Do Not Vibe Fuck Up This Software \u2013 Rsync"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46873294", "title": "France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49675902", "title": "Linux Zoom client proactively reading everything written to X11 clipboard", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48927900", "title": "P2P local file transfer based on WebRTC", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342705", "title": "Please Do Not Vibe Fuck Up This Software \u2013 Rsync", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46937696", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (February 2026)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46945663", "title": "Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 794860097, "item_id": 49678756, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49678756", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Very easy to set up, I run it on obsd(an unsupported platform) and it just works.", "excerpt": "If we are doing a survey of self hosted video conferencing services I would like to propose galene. Very easy to set up, I run it on obsd(an unsupported platform) and it just works. https://galene.org/", "context": "runs Galene on OpenBSD", "use_case": "Self-hosted video conferencing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux Zoom client proactively reading everything written to X11 clipboard"}, {"id": 782850288, "item_id": 48928143, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48928143", "by": "jech", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "For a demo, go to <https://galene.org:8443/group/public/hn/>.", "excerpt": "Nice design, but that's the kind of functionality that's best integrated within a chat or videoconferencing application, since within a conference you can be pretty sure that you send the file to the right person. For a demo, go to <https://galene.org:8443/group/public/hn/>. Login twice in two different browser tabs (leave the password field empty). Click on the username of your partner, and choose Send file.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "P2P local file transfer based on WebRTC"}, {"id": 751588641, "item_id": 46974290, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46974290", "by": "jvanveen", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Pyrite - Galene SFU", "excerpt": "I'm working on a set of open-source applications to help collaborate on building software. Basic principles are better online communication between people(Pyrite - Galene SFU, channel-based chat), automating i18n and project management where feasible. Mostly experimental: https://github.com/garage44/garage44/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (February 2026)"}, {"id": 751270593, "item_id": 46954412, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46954412", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-02-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have had a lot of success with Galene", "excerpt": "Hard to say, I don't really use discord so I think of it as voice chat as a service, and for pure voice chat it is hard to do better than mumble. However from the way people talk about discord, it is also a text chat screen sharing file server. and it is hard to find one product that does all that well. For video, both video chat and screen sharing I have had a lot of success with Galene, it offers text chat and file", "context": "", "use_case": "video chat and screen sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month"}, {"id": 750123728, "item_id": 46882733, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46882733", "by": "internet_points", "date": "2026-02-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "what are the minimal server requirements? jitsi says prefer 8G ram (4G for small meetings) and 4 dedicated cpu cores https://jitsi.github.io/handbook/docs/devops-guide/devops-guide-requirements/ The chat seems extremely basic, so not really an alternative if you need chat with e.g. message edit/delete/formatting/pictures as well as video/audio.", "context": "", "use_case": "Video conferencing", "switched_from": "", "story": "France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US"}, {"id": 749993088, "item_id": 46874568, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874568", "by": "kofu", "date": "2026-02-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This one is often overlook but very good, I prefer it over Jitsi", "excerpt": "This one is often overlook but very good, I prefer it over Jitsi https://galene.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US"}, {"id": 748301280, "item_id": 46768830, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46768830", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Galene has worked great for me", "excerpt": "For what it's worth, if you want a self hosted replacement for Zoom Galene has worked great for me, The server requirements are remarkably low, especially if you are like me and just need a personal video chat to a few people. I run it on an old apu-2 with openbsd(which is just about the worst combination and it still works great) As a bonus there is no client, that is, the client is just a web page so very low frict", "context": "", "use_case": "Self-hosted video chat", "switched_from": "", "story": "France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc."}]}