Conduit vs Continuwuity
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted matrix & xmpp options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Conduit
Simple, fast and reliable Matrix homeserver in Rust
VS
Continuwuity
Community-maintained Rust Matrix homeserver
| Feature | Conduit | Continuwuity |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,200 | ★ 700 |
| First released | 2020 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Slack, Discord |
What are Conduit and Continuwuity?
Conduit
Conduit is a lightweight Matrix homeserver written in Rust that aims to be easy to set up and run on small servers. It uses an embedded database and requires minimal configuration.
- Embedded database, no external DB
- Very low resource usage
- Single binary deployment
- Matrix federation support
Continuwuity
Continuwuity is a community continuation of the conduwuit Matrix homeserver, written in Rust. It provides an efficient, federated Matrix server with a focus on stability and ongoing maintenance.
- Drop-in conduwuit replacement
- Active community maintenance
- Efficient single binary
- Full Matrix federation
Conduit vs Continuwuity: key differences
Both projects are written in Rust. Conduit is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Continuwuity. Conduit is the more established project (first released 2020), while Continuwuity arrived in 2024. Conduit has the considerably larger community, at 2,200 GitHub stars versus 700.
Why pick each one
Choose Conduit if…
- Extremely easy to deploy
- Runs on a Raspberry Pi
Watch out for
- Not all Matrix features implemented
- Smaller ecosystem
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 Conduit or Continuwuity better?
Conduit is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Continuwuity if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Conduit and Continuwuity free and open-source?
Yes. Conduit is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Continuwuity under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Conduit and Continuwuity with Docker?
Conduit: yes. Continuwuity: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Conduit or Continuwuity?
Conduit has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Continuwuity. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.