Element Web vs ZNC
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 Dendrite Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Tox Dino Nheko Tuwunel La Suite - Meet Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk 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 ZNC with
choose an app… Tinode ejabberd The Lounge Dendrite Synapse Cinny Converse.js Openfire FluffyChat Dino Nheko Tuwunel Conduit Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity Convos IRC Syphon soju Element Call Glowing Bear Dendrite Lite Element X Fractal Maubot Gamja
Feature Element Web ZNC Category Matrix & XMPP Matrix & XMPP License AGPL-3.0 Apache-2.0 Language TypeScript C++ Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 128 MB 64 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal, source docker, bare-metal, source GitHub stars ★ 13,353 ★ 2,123 First released 2016 2004 Replaces Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams IRCCloud
Why pick each one
Choose ZNC if… Very stable and mature Highly configurable ZNC details
Frequently asked questions Is Element Web or ZNC better? Element Web is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider ZNC if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Element Web and ZNC free and open-source? Yes. Element Web is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and ZNC under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Element Web and ZNC with Docker? Element Web: yes. ZNC: yes.