Metronome IM vs SimpleX Chat
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?
Compare Metronome IM with
choose an app… Tinode Element Web Berty ejabberd Dendrite qTox Synapse Cinny Converse.js Openfire FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Dino MongooseIM Toxic Syphon Delta Chat Element X Briar Session Chatmail Chatmail Relay SchildiChat Snikket Tigase XMPP Server Wesh Network
Compare SimpleX Chat with
choose an app… Plane Chatwoot Focalboard Super Productivity Wekan Etherpad OpenProject Habitica Self-Hosted Tinode Planka Leantime Centrifugo Screego Typebot git-bug Kanboard Berty Mumble Kaneo ejabberd The Lounge Papercups Taskwarrior Zammad WorkAdventure Soketi Remark42 Isso FreeSWITCH qTox MiroTalk Synapse Ferdium FreeScout Telegram Bot API Server Rustpad Asterisk WeeChat Ergo irssi FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Kamailio Cusdis Tox Stoat AnyCable Chitchatter Live Helper Chat Spacebar Nextcloud Talk Indico RetroShare SIPCAPTURE Homer Peer-calls MongooseIM mautrix-telegram Routr GlobaLeaks openSIPS mautrix Databag Galène InspIRCd Candy Toxic Hyphanet Syphon FusionPBX soju KiwiIRC Glowing Bear Bonfire Pretalx Delta Chat Element X Notifo SimpleX Briar Quassel IRC OTS matrix-commander Mumble Web Comentario mautrix-signal BitlBee ngIRCd Miaou Session Nextcloud Talk Signaling Server UnrealIRCd MiroTalk C2C matrix-appservice-irc Linphone Chatmail Chatmail Relay SchildiChat Hookshot Snikket Atheme IRC Services Maunium Sticker Picker Spectrum 2 Shhh Gamja Jami Server Bridge Mollysocket Anope PushBits Tigase XMPP Server Comm Heisenbridge Slixmpp Ferdium Server Solanum Wesh Network Draupnir baibot matrix-media-repo Charybdis IRCd Zusam Cactus Comments ircd-hybrid Scuttlebutt Room Robust IRC Flexisip SAMA Biboumi Monocles Chat Hebbot ircu2 Prose Libervia Jami YunoHost Mail Relay 3CX ARN-Messager Freepbx GNUnet Groupboard MailBag Mailman3 Mailing List Manager Mlmmj Web Peachpub PrivMX WebMail SIP3 TrueConf Wazo Yeti-Switch
Feature Metronome IM SimpleX Chat Category Matrix & XMPP Chat & Communication License MIT AGPL-3.0 Language Lua Haskell Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 128 MB 256 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal, source docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 175 ★ 19,211 First released 2012 2021 Replaces Slack, WhatsApp Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram
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 Metronome IM details
Frequently asked questions Is Metronome IM or SimpleX Chat better? Neither is universally better. SimpleX Chat has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Metronome IM and SimpleX Chat free and open-source? Yes. Metronome IM is licensed under MIT and SimpleX Chat under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Metronome IM and SimpleX Chat with Docker? Metronome IM: yes. SimpleX Chat: yes.