# Ergo IRC server

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/ergo-irc-server/

12 people recommended Ergo IRC server in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 6 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

7 of the 12 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “IRCv3”.

**Verdict:** Free, easy-to-run IRC server with modern IRCv3 features and built-in bouncer. Caveat: single server, and some clients lack emoji reactions.

Summary written by Claude from 18 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 16 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Easy to set up (4 comments in the sample): "I was able to get Ergo IRCd and TheLounge up and running pretty quickly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46996683)) "It's super easy to put up an instance of ergo now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50054995)) "IRC with Ergo + Soju is pretty easy and pleasant." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46301597))
- Strong IRCv3 modernization support (3 comments in the sample): "It ships as a single binary (golang), can support tens of thousands of clients, is at the forefront of the ircv3 modernization initiative" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49883194)) "IRCv3 and Ergo support some of what's needed already (and in a backwards-compatible way!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46996812)) "when using a modern server (eg. https://ergo.chat/" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50042146))
- Built-in bouncer and history (2 comments in the sample): "Ergo comes with a built-in bouncer, you get all the history according to whatever Ergo has set as retention" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50050034)) "providing all the multi-device history sharing and emoji reactions you could need" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46862248))
- Lightweight, cheap and performant (1 comment in the sample): "Works great. Cheap, performant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50042916))

## What people warn about

- Runs on a single server (1 comment in the sample): "Usually it's claimed that one of the advantages of IRC is that it doesn't depend on a single server…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48517224))
- Clients lack emoji reactions (1 comment in the sample): "none of the clients you mentioned actually support emoji reactions (draft/react" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46862674))

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Ergo IRC server", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ergo-irc-server/ (12 recommend, 1 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.