Element Web 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 Element Web with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip Tinode Spectrum Let's Chat BigBlueButton Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Tox Dino Nheko Tuwunel La Suite - Meet Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk ZNC Movim Twake Workplace 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
Compare Dendrite with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip Tinode Spectrum Let's Chat Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Tox Dino 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 Element Web Dendrite Category Matrix & XMPP Matrix & XMPP License AGPL-3.0 Apache-2.0 Language TypeScript Go Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 128 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal, source docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 13,353 ★ 5,632 First released 2016 2017 Replaces Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams Slack, Discord
Why pick each one
Choose Dendrite if… Much lighter than Synapse Active development by Matrix.org Dendrite details
Frequently asked questions Is Element Web or Dendrite better? Element Web is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Dendrite if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Element Web and Dendrite free and open-source? Yes. Element Web is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Dendrite under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Element Web and Dendrite with Docker? Element Web: yes. Dendrite: yes.