# Wire

> Wire is an encrypted business messenger from Wire Swiss; wire-server is its AGPL-3.0 backend (Haskell services on Kubernetes). Self-hosting is heavy: production wants 3 physical servers, two Kubernetes clusters and about 23 Ubuntu VMs (around 18 cores and 38 GB RAM per server) for up to 4,000 users. A single-VM "Wire in a Box" exists for demos only. The Wire trademark and logos are not licensed. Best suited to organisations with ops staff, not small teams.

- Repository: https://github.com/wireapp/wire-server
- Official docs: https://docs.wire.com/latest/how-to/install/planning.html
- Checked: 2026-10-15

## What it replaces
- Slack: Channels and direct messages, Voice and video huddles (partial). Encrypted team messaging and calls; heavy Kubernetes self-hosting. Slack-style integrations and search not checked.

## Facts, with sources

| Question | Status | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Confirmed | Self-hosted on Kubernetes (Helm), or Wire's hosted service | https://github.com/wireapp/wire-server#how-to-install-and-run-wire-server | 2026-10-15 |
| Code licence | Partial | AGPL-3.0; Wire trademark and logos not licensed | https://github.com/wireapp/wire-server#readme | 2026-10-15 |
| Model weights licence | Confirmed | No separate model weights | https://github.com/wireapp/wire-server#readme | 2026-10-15 |
| Commercial use | Partial | Allowed under AGPL-3.0; share changes to a modified server and do not use the Wire brand | https://github.com/wireapp/wire-server#readme | 2026-10-15 |
| Paid services needed? | Partial | None required; Wire offers deployment support and the hosted service | https://docs.wire.com/latest/how-to/install/planning.html | 2026-10-15 |
| Hardware | Confirmed | Production - 3 physical servers, about 23 Ubuntu 22.04 VMs, 18 cores and 38 GB RAM per server, SSD only; supports up to 4,000 users | https://docs.wire.com/latest/how-to/install/planning.html | 2026-10-15 |
| Operating systems | Partial | Server on Ubuntu VMs with Kubernetes, AMD64 only | https://docs.wire.com/latest/how-to/install/planning.html | 2026-10-15 |
| Setup effort | Confirmed | Hard; Ansible, Helm and two Kubernetes clusters via the wire-server-deploy bundle | https://docs.wire.com/latest/how-to/install/planning.html | 2026-10-15 |

GitHub: 2781 stars, 332 forks, last push 2026-10-16, archived: no.
---
Source: RepoQuarry (https://repoquarry.dev/projects/wire). Data licence: CC BY 4.0. Quotes are from project documentation and belong to their authors.