ejabberd vs Prosody
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?
| Feature | ejabberd | Prosody |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Erlang | |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 10 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,711 | — |
| First released | 2002 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Slack, WhatsApp | — |
Why pick each one
Choose Prosody if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Tiny footprint — runs in 10 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is ejabberd or Prosody better?
Neither is universally better. ejabberd has the larger community, while Prosody is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are ejabberd and Prosody free and open-source?
Yes. ejabberd is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Prosody under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run ejabberd and Prosody with Docker?
ejabberd: yes. Prosody: check the project docs for container support.