Conduit vs Tinode
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
Tinode
Open-source instant messaging server
| Feature | Conduit | Tinode |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,200 | ★ 13,516 |
| First released | 2020 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | WhatsApp, Slack |
What are Conduit and Tinode?
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
Tinode
Tinode is an open-source instant messaging server with a backend and clients designed as an alternative to closed messengers. It targets developers building chat into products. It is deployed via Docker or binaries.
- Lightweight messaging server
- Web, mobile and CLI clients
- Group and peer-to-peer chats
- Pluggable storage backends
Conduit vs Tinode: key differences
Conduit is written in Rust, while Tinode is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Conduit versus GPL-3.0 for Tinode. Conduit is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Tinode. Tinode is the more established project (first released 2016), while Conduit arrived in 2020. Tinode has the considerably larger community, at 13,516 GitHub stars versus 2,200.
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 Tinode if…
- Good developer foundation
- Multiple clients
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- More toolkit than product
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Conduit or Tinode better?
Neither is universally better. Tinode has the larger community, while Conduit is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Conduit and Tinode free and open-source?
Yes. Conduit is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Tinode under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Conduit and Tinode with Docker?
Conduit: yes. Tinode: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Conduit or Tinode?
Conduit has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Tinode. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.