conduwuit vs Element Web
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted matrix & xmpp options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
conduwuit
Archived
Well-maintained fork of the Conduit Matrix homeserver
VS
Element Web
Glossy Matrix client for the web and desktop
| Feature | conduwuit | Element Web |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 94 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 25 | ★ 13,502 |
| First released | 2024 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams |
What are conduwuit and Element Web?
conduwuit
conduwuit is a community-maintained fork of Conduit, a Matrix homeserver written in Rust. It focuses on stability, performance, and adding features that upstream Conduit lacked.
- Faster than upstream Conduit
- Easy single-binary deploy
- Active maintenance
- Matrix federation
Element Web
Element Web is the flagship Matrix client, providing a polished interface for chat, voice, and video over the Matrix protocol. It can be self-hosted alongside a homeserver for a fully owned communication stack.
- Full-featured Matrix client
- End-to-end encryption
- Voice and video calls
- Customizable branding
conduwuit vs Element Web: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: conduwuit's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Element Web is actively maintained. Conduwuit is written in Rust, while Element Web is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for conduwuit versus AGPL-3.0 for Element Web. Element Web is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for conduwuit. Element Web is the more established project (first released 2016), while conduwuit arrived in 2024. Element Web has the considerably larger community, at 13,502 GitHub stars versus 25.
Why pick each one
Choose conduwuit if…
- More features than Conduit
- Good performance
Watch out for
- Relatively young project
- Smaller community
Choose Element Web if…
- Most mature Matrix client
- Active development
Watch out for
- Heavier than minimal clients
- Best paired with own homeserver
Frequently asked questions
Is conduwuit or Element Web better?
Neither is universally better. Element Web has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are conduwuit and Element Web free and open-source?
Yes. conduwuit is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Element Web under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run conduwuit and Element Web with Docker?
conduwuit: yes. Element Web: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, conduwuit or Element Web?
Element Web has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for conduwuit. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.