SHSelfHostIndex

Metronome IM vs Synapse

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?
ME Metronome IM Lightweight, fork-based XMPP communication server VS SY Synapse Reference homeserver for the Matrix network
FeatureMetronome IMSynapse
CategoryMatrix & XMPPMatrix & XMPP
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageLuaPython
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM128 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 175★ 4,503
First released20122014
ReplacesSlack, WhatsAppSlack, Discord, 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
Metronome IM details

Choose Synapse if…

  • Open federated protocol
  • Strong encryption
  • Bridges to other chats
Synapse details

Frequently asked questions

Is Metronome IM or Synapse better?

Neither is universally better. Synapse 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 Synapse free and open-source?

Yes. Metronome IM is licensed under MIT and Synapse under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Metronome IM and Synapse with Docker?

Metronome IM: yes. Synapse: yes.

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