Element X vs SimpleX Chat
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare Element X with
choose an app… Tinode Element Web Berty ejabberd Dendrite qTox Synapse Cinny Converse.js Openfire FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Dino Nheko Tuwunel Conduit ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity Toxic Convos IRC Syphon Element Call Dendrite Lite Delta Chat Fractal Maubot Briar mautrix-signal Session Chatmail Chatmail Relay SchildiChat Snikket Tigase XMPP Server Wesh Network Metronome IM Monocles Chat Prose
Compare SimpleX Chat with
choose an app… Plane Chatwoot Focalboard Super Productivity Wekan Etherpad OpenProject Habitica Self-Hosted Tinode Planka Leantime Centrifugo Screego Typebot git-bug Kanboard Berty Mumble Kaneo ejabberd The Lounge Papercups Taskwarrior Zammad WorkAdventure Soketi Remark42 Isso FreeSWITCH qTox MiroTalk Synapse Ferdium FreeScout Telegram Bot API Server Rustpad Asterisk WeeChat Ergo irssi FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Kamailio Cusdis Tox Stoat AnyCable Chitchatter Live Helper Chat Spacebar Nextcloud Talk Indico RetroShare SIPCAPTURE Homer Peer-calls MongooseIM mautrix-telegram Routr GlobaLeaks openSIPS mautrix Databag Galène InspIRCd Candy Toxic Hyphanet Syphon FusionPBX soju KiwiIRC Glowing Bear Bonfire Pretalx Delta Chat Notifo SimpleX Briar Quassel IRC OTS matrix-commander Mumble Web Comentario mautrix-signal BitlBee ngIRCd Miaou Session Nextcloud Talk Signaling Server UnrealIRCd MiroTalk C2C matrix-appservice-irc Linphone Chatmail Chatmail Relay SchildiChat Hookshot Snikket Atheme IRC Services Maunium Sticker Picker Spectrum 2 Shhh Gamja Jami Server Bridge Mollysocket Anope PushBits Tigase XMPP Server Comm Heisenbridge Slixmpp Ferdium Server Solanum Wesh Network Draupnir baibot matrix-media-repo Charybdis IRCd Zusam Cactus Comments ircd-hybrid Scuttlebutt Room Robust IRC Flexisip Metronome IM SAMA Biboumi Monocles Chat Hebbot ircu2 Prose Libervia Jami YunoHost Mail Relay 3CX ARN-Messager Freepbx GNUnet Groupboard MailBag Mailman3 Mailing List Manager Mlmmj Web Peachpub PrivMX WebMail SIP3 TrueConf Wazo Yeti-Switch
Feature Element X SimpleX Chat Category Matrix & XMPP Chat & Communication License AGPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0 Language Swift Haskell Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 64 MB 256 MB Deployment bare-metal, source docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 912 ★ 19,211 First released 2022 2021 Replaces WhatsApp, Signal Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram
Why pick each one
Choose Element X if… Released under the AGPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Written in Swift Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM Element X details
Frequently asked questions Is Element X or SimpleX Chat better? Neither is universally better. SimpleX Chat has the larger community, while Element X is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Element X and SimpleX Chat free and open-source? Yes. Element X is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and SimpleX Chat under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Element X and SimpleX Chat with Docker? Element X: check the project docs for container support. SimpleX Chat: yes.