Conduit vs Construct
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
Construct
High-performance Matrix homeserver written in C++
| Feature | Conduit | Construct |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Rust | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,200 | ★ 394 |
| First released | 2020 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Slack, Discord |
What are Conduit and Construct?
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
Construct
Construct is a Matrix homeserver implementation written in C++ focused on raw performance and efficiency. It is one of the original alternative homeserver projects in the Matrix ecosystem.
- Written in modern C++
- Designed for low overhead
- Matrix federation support
- Embedded database
Conduit vs Construct: key differences
Conduit is written in Rust, while Construct is built with C++. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Conduit versus BSD-3-Clause for Construct. Conduit is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Construct. Construct is the more established project (first released 2018), while Conduit arrived in 2020. Conduit has the considerably larger community, at 2,200 GitHub stars versus 394. Conduit lists first-class Docker deployment; Construct 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
Choose Construct if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Complex to build
- Limited documentation
Frequently asked questions
Is Conduit or Construct better?
Conduit is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Construct if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Conduit and Construct free and open-source?
Yes. Conduit is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Construct under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Conduit and Construct with Docker?
Conduit: yes. Construct: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Conduit or Construct?
Conduit has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Construct. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.