Bonfire vs Continuwuity
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
Continuwuity
Community-maintained Rust Matrix homeserver
| Feature | Bonfire | Continuwuity |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Chat & Communication | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Elixir | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 930 | ★ 700 |
| First released | 2020 | 2024 |
| 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
Choose Continuwuity if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Bonfire or Continuwuity better?
Neither is universally better. Bonfire has the larger community, while Continuwuity is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Bonfire and Continuwuity free and open-source?
Yes. Bonfire is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Continuwuity under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bonfire and Continuwuity with Docker?
Bonfire: yes. Continuwuity: yes.