Bonfire vs Conduit
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Bonfire
Federated social networking toolkit for communities
VS
Conduit
Simple, fast and reliable Matrix homeserver in Rust
| Feature | Bonfire | Conduit |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Elixir | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 930 | ★ 2,200 |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Facebook Groups, Discord | Slack, Discord |
Why pick each one
Choose Bonfire if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Elixir
Frequently asked questions
Is Bonfire or Conduit better?
Conduit is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Bonfire if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Bonfire and Conduit free and open-source?
Yes. Bonfire is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Conduit under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bonfire and Conduit with Docker?
Bonfire: yes. Conduit: yes.