Continuwuity vs Movim
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
Movim
Social and chat platform built on XMPP
| Feature | Continuwuity | Movim |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 700 | ★ 2,055 |
| First released | 2024 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Facebook, Slack |
What are Continuwuity and Movim?
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
Movim
Movim is a federated social networking and instant messaging platform built on the XMPP protocol. It provides a modern web interface for chat, group conversations, and a publish-subscribe news feed.
- XMPP-based federation
- Modern web chat interface
- Built-in blogging and news feed
- OMEMO end-to-end encryption
Continuwuity vs Movim: key differences
Continuwuity is written in Rust, while Movim is built with PHP. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Continuwuity versus AGPL-3.0 for Movim. Continuwuity is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Movim. Movim is the more established project (first released 2010), while Continuwuity arrived in 2024. Movim has the considerably larger community, at 2,055 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 Movim if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Watch out for
- Requires an XMPP server
- Smaller ecosystem
Frequently asked questions
Is Continuwuity or Movim better?
Neither is universally better. Movim has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Continuwuity and Movim free and open-source?
Yes. Continuwuity is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Movim under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Continuwuity and Movim with Docker?
Continuwuity: yes. Movim: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Continuwuity or Movim?
Continuwuity has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Movim. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.