Metronome IM vs MongooseIM
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
MongooseIM
Scalable, robust XMPP messaging platform
| Feature | Metronome IM | MongooseIM |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Lua | Erlang |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 175 | ★ 1,748 |
| First released | 2012 | 2012 |
| 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
Choose MongooseIM if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Erlang
Frequently asked questions
Is Metronome IM or MongooseIM better?
Neither is universally better. MongooseIM 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 MongooseIM free and open-source?
Yes. Metronome IM is licensed under MIT and MongooseIM under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Metronome IM and MongooseIM with Docker?
Metronome IM: yes. MongooseIM: yes.