SHSelfHostIndex

Conduit vs Gajim

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?
Conduit Simple, fast and reliable Matrix homeserver in Rust VS GA Gajim Full-featured XMPP client with plugins
FeatureConduitGajim
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupRead-the-docs project
CategoryMatrix & XMPPMatrix & XMPP
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageRustPython
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcebinary, source
GitHub stars★ 2,200★ 600
First released20202005
ReplacesSlack, DiscordSkype, Slack

What are Conduit and Gajim?

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

Read the full Conduit guide →

Gajim

Gajim is a cross-platform XMPP instant messaging client written in Python with a GTK interface. It supports OMEMO encryption, group chats, file transfer, and an extensive plugin system.

  • OMEMO encryption
  • Plugin system
  • Group chat support
  • Cross-platform

Conduit vs Gajim: key differences

Conduit is written in Rust, while Gajim is built with Python. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Conduit versus GPL-3.0 for Gajim. Gajim is the more established project (first released 2005), while Conduit arrived in 2020. Conduit has the considerably larger community, at 2,200 GitHub stars versus 600. Conduit lists first-class Docker deployment; Gajim does not.

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
Conduit details

Choose Gajim if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in Python
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Gajim details

Frequently asked questions

Is Conduit or Gajim better?

Neither is universally better. Conduit has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Conduit and Gajim free and open-source?

Yes. Conduit is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Gajim under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Conduit and Gajim with Docker?

Conduit: yes. Gajim: check the project docs for container support.

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