Dino vs Dendrite
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?
Compare Dino with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip Tinode Element Web Let's Chat Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge qTox Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js irssi Openfire FluffyChat Tox Nheko Tuwunel Conduit Nextcloud Talk ZNC Movim Peer-calls mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity Toxic Convos IRC Syphon Element Call Dendrite Lite Element X Fractal Maubot JSXC Hydrogen matrix-nio Continuwuity mautrix-signal CoyIM Spark IM Gajim Linphone mautrix-discord SchildiChat Ketesa Synapse Admin Jangouts jabberd2 Mjolnir Jami Server Bridge Construct Tigase XMPP Server Pantalaimon Sliding Sync Proxy matrix-appservice-slack Coqui Chat Synapse-MAS aioxmpp Poezio Slidge Sygnal Metronome IM matrix-corporal PeerTube Plugin LiveChat Commet go-sendxmpp Simple-Matrix-Bot-Lib Monocles Chat Openfire Pade Plugin Prose Jami conduwuit Prosody
Compare Dendrite with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip Tinode Element Web Spectrum Let's Chat Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Tox Nheko Tuwunel Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity InspIRCd Convos IRC Syphon Element Call KiwiIRC Dendrite Lite Bonfire Element X Fractal Maubot Mumble Web JSXC Hydrogen matrix-nio Continuwuity mautrix-signal CoyIM Gajim Miaou mautrix-discord SchildiChat Ketesa Synapse Admin jabberd2 Mjolnir Construct Tigase XMPP Server Pantalaimon Sliding Sync Proxy matrix-appservice-slack Coqui Chat Synapse-MAS aioxmpp Poezio Slidge Sygnal Metronome IM matrix-corporal PeerTube Plugin LiveChat Commet go-sendxmpp Simple-Matrix-Bot-Lib Monocles Chat Openfire Pade Plugin Prose conduwuit Prosody
Feature Dino Dendrite Category Matrix & XMPP Matrix & XMPP License GPL-3.0 Apache-2.0 Language Vala Go Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 128 MB 512 MB Deployment binary, source docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 2,472 ★ 5,632 First released 2017 2017 Replaces Skype, Slack Slack, Discord
Why pick each one
Choose Dino if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Active community (2.5k GitHub stars) Written in Vala Dino details Choose Dendrite if… Much lighter than Synapse Active development by Matrix.org Dendrite details
Frequently asked questions Is Dino or Dendrite better? Neither is universally better. Dendrite has the larger community, while Dino is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Dino and Dendrite free and open-source? Yes. Dino is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Dendrite under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dino and Dendrite with Docker? Dino: check the project docs for container support. Dendrite: yes.