ejabberd vs Maubot

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?
FeatureejabberdMaubot
CategoryMatrix & XMPPMatrix & XMPP
LicenseGPL-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageErlangPython
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 6,711★ 891
First released20022018
ReplacesSlack, WhatsAppSlack bots

Why pick each one

Choose ejabberd if…

  • Extremely scalable
  • Battle-tested
  • Standards-based
ejabberd details

Choose Maubot if…

  • Extensible with plugins
  • Easy plugin management
Maubot details

Frequently asked questions

Is ejabberd or Maubot better?

Neither is universally better. ejabberd has the larger community, while Maubot is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are ejabberd and Maubot free and open-source?

Yes. ejabberd is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Maubot under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run ejabberd and Maubot with Docker?

ejabberd: yes. Maubot: yes.

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