SHSelfHostIndex

Element Web 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?
EL Element Web Glossy Matrix client for the web and desktop VS PR Prosody Modern XMPP communication server
FeatureElement WebProsody
CategoryMatrix & XMPPMatrix & XMPP
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB10 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal
GitHub stars★ 13,353—
First released20162023
ReplacesSlack, Discord, Microsoft Teams—

Why pick each one

Choose Element Web if…

  • Most mature Matrix client
  • Active development
Element Web details

Choose Prosody if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 10 MB RAM
Prosody details

Frequently asked questions

Is Element Web or Prosody better?

Neither is universally better. Element Web has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Element Web and Prosody free and open-source?

Yes. Element Web is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Prosody under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Element Web and Prosody with Docker?

Element Web: yes. Prosody: check the project docs for container support.

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