Metronome IM vs ejabberd
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?
Metronome IM
Lightweight, fork-based XMPP communication server
VS
ejabberd
Robust, scalable XMPP messaging server
| Feature | Metronome IM | ejabberd |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Lua | Erlang |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 175 | ★ 6,711 |
| First released | 2012 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Slack, WhatsApp | Slack, WhatsApp |
Why pick each one
Choose Metronome IM if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Lua
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Metronome IM or ejabberd better?
Neither is universally better. ejabberd has the larger community, while Metronome IM is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Metronome IM and ejabberd free and open-source?
Yes. Metronome IM is licensed under MIT and ejabberd under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Metronome IM and ejabberd with Docker?
Metronome IM: yes. ejabberd: yes.