Continuwuity vs ejabberd
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted matrix & xmpp options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Continuwuity
Community-maintained Rust Matrix homeserver
VS
ejabberd
Robust, scalable XMPP messaging server
| Feature | Continuwuity | ejabberd |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Erlang |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 700 | ★ 6,732 |
| First released | 2024 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Slack, WhatsApp |
What are Continuwuity and ejabberd?
Continuwuity
Continuwuity is a community continuation of the conduwuit Matrix homeserver, written in Rust. It provides an efficient, federated Matrix server with a focus on stability and ongoing maintenance.
- Drop-in conduwuit replacement
- Active community maintenance
- Efficient single binary
- Full Matrix federation
ejabberd
ejabberd is a robust and scalable XMPP server powering instant messaging, presence, and real-time communication. It targets operators running large messaging deployments. It is deployed via Docker or native packages.
- Highly scalable XMPP server
- Clustering support
- Many extension modules
- MQTT and SIP support
Continuwuity vs ejabberd: key differences
Continuwuity is written in Rust, while ejabberd is built with Erlang. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Continuwuity versus GPL-2.0 for ejabberd. Continuwuity is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for ejabberd. Ejabberd is the more established project (first released 2002), while Continuwuity arrived in 2024. Ejabberd has the considerably larger community, at 6,732 GitHub stars versus 700.
Why pick each one
Choose Continuwuity if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose ejabberd if…
- Extremely scalable
- Battle-tested
- Standards-based
Watch out for
- XMPP UX depends on clients
- Advanced config is complex
Frequently asked questions
Is Continuwuity or ejabberd better?
Neither is universally better. ejabberd has the larger community, while Continuwuity is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Continuwuity and ejabberd free and open-source?
Yes. Continuwuity is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ejabberd under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Continuwuity and ejabberd with Docker?
Continuwuity: yes. ejabberd: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Continuwuity or ejabberd?
Continuwuity has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for ejabberd. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.