aioxmpp vs Dendrite

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted matrix & xmpp options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureaioxmppDendrite
CategoryMatrix & XMPPMatrix & XMPP
LicenseLGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePythonGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentsourcedocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 216★ 5,632
First released20162017
ReplacesSlack botsSlack, Discord

Why pick each one

Choose aioxmpp if…

  • Released under the LGPL-3.0 license
  • Written in Python
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
aioxmpp details

Choose Dendrite if…

  • Much lighter than Synapse
  • Active development by Matrix.org
Dendrite details

Frequently asked questions

Is aioxmpp or Dendrite better?

Neither is universally better. Dendrite has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are aioxmpp and Dendrite free and open-source?

Yes. aioxmpp is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Dendrite under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run aioxmpp and Dendrite with Docker?

aioxmpp: check the project docs for container support. Dendrite: yes.

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