Cinny vs Synapse
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?
Compare Cinny with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip Tinode Element Web Spectrum Let's Chat Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Dendrite WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Tox Dino Nheko Tuwunel Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity InspIRCd Convos IRC Syphon Element Call KiwiIRC Dendrite Lite Bonfire Element X Fractal Maubot Mumble Web JSXC Hydrogen matrix-nio Continuwuity mautrix-signal CoyIM Gajim Miaou mautrix-discord SchildiChat Ketesa Synapse Admin jabberd2 Mjolnir Construct Tigase XMPP Server Pantalaimon Sliding Sync Proxy matrix-appservice-slack Coqui Chat Synapse-MAS aioxmpp Poezio Slidge Sygnal Metronome IM matrix-corporal PeerTube Plugin LiveChat Commet go-sendxmpp Simple-Matrix-Bot-Lib Monocles Chat Openfire Pade Plugin Prose conduwuit Prosody
Compare Synapse with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip SimpleX Chat Tinode Element Web Spectrum Let's Chat Berty Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Dendrite qTox WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Tox Dino Nheko Tuwunel Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity InspIRCd Toxic Convos IRC Syphon Element Call KiwiIRC Dendrite Lite Bonfire Delta Chat Element X Fractal Maubot Briar Mumble Web JSXC Hydrogen matrix-nio Continuwuity mautrix-signal CoyIM Gajim Miaou Session mautrix-discord Chatmail Chatmail Relay SchildiChat Ketesa Synapse Admin jabberd2 Mjolnir Snikket Construct Tigase XMPP Server Pantalaimon Sliding Sync Proxy matrix-appservice-slack Coqui Chat Synapse-MAS Wesh Network aioxmpp Poezio Slidge Sygnal Metronome IM matrix-corporal PeerTube Plugin LiveChat Commet go-sendxmpp Simple-Matrix-Bot-Lib Monocles Chat Openfire Pade Plugin Prose conduwuit Prosody
Feature Cinny Synapse Category Matrix & XMPP Matrix & XMPP License AGPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0 Language TypeScript Python Setup difficulty Easy Hard Min. RAM 64 MB 1,024 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal, source docker, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 3,826 ★ 4,503 First released 2021 2014 Replaces Slack, Discord Slack, Discord, WhatsApp
Why pick each one
Choose Cinny if… Lightweight to host Attractive interface Cinny details Choose Synapse if… Open federated protocol Strong encryption Bridges to other chats Synapse details
Frequently asked questions Is Cinny or Synapse better? Neither is universally better. Synapse has the larger community, while Cinny is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Cinny and Synapse free and open-source? Yes. Cinny is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Synapse under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cinny and Synapse with Docker? Cinny: yes. Synapse: yes.