conduwuit vs Synapse
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?
conduwuit
Well-maintained fork of the Conduit Matrix homeserver
VS
Synapse
Reference homeserver for the Matrix network
| Feature | conduwuit | Synapse |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 24 | ★ 4,503 |
| First released | 2024 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Slack, Discord, WhatsApp |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is conduwuit or Synapse better?
Neither is universally better. Synapse has the larger community, while conduwuit is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are conduwuit and Synapse free and open-source?
Yes. conduwuit is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Synapse under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run conduwuit and Synapse with Docker?
conduwuit: yes. Synapse: yes.