Ergo vs Synapse
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare Ergo with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Chatwoot Zulip SimpleX Chat Etherpad Tinode Element Web Spectrum Centrifugo Screego Typebot Let's Chat Berty Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Papercups Zammad WorkAdventure Dendrite Soketi Remark42 Isso FreeSWITCH qTox MiroTalk Ferdium FreeScout Telegram Bot API Server Rustpad Cinny Asterisk WeeChat Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire Tox Dino Nheko Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk Movim gomuks InspIRCd Syphon KiwiIRC Dendrite Lite Bonfire Fractal Mumble Web Continuwuity Miaou
Compare Synapse with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip SimpleX Chat Tinode Element Web Spectrum Let's Chat Berty Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Dendrite qTox Cinny WeeChat Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Tox Dino Nheko Tuwunel Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity InspIRCd Toxic Convos IRC Syphon Element Call KiwiIRC Dendrite Lite Bonfire Delta Chat Element X Fractal Maubot Briar Mumble Web JSXC Hydrogen matrix-nio Continuwuity mautrix-signal CoyIM Gajim Miaou Session mautrix-discord Chatmail Chatmail Relay SchildiChat Ketesa Synapse Admin jabberd2 Mjolnir Snikket Construct Tigase XMPP Server Pantalaimon Sliding Sync Proxy matrix-appservice-slack Coqui Chat Synapse-MAS Wesh Network 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 Ergo Synapse Category Chat & Communication Matrix & XMPP License MIT AGPL-3.0 Language Go Python Setup difficulty Medium Hard Min. RAM 64 MB 1,024 MB Deployment docker, binary, source docker, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 3,288 ★ 4,503 First released 2016 2014 Replaces Slack, Discord Slack, Discord, WhatsApp
Why pick each one
Choose Ergo if… No external services needed Easy to run Ergo details Choose Synapse if… Open federated protocol Strong encryption Bridges to other chats Synapse details
Frequently asked questions Is Ergo or Synapse better? Neither is universally better. Synapse has the larger community, while Ergo is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Ergo and Synapse free and open-source? Yes. Ergo is licensed under MIT and Synapse under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ergo and Synapse with Docker? Ergo: yes. Synapse: yes.