FluffyChat vs Synapse
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 FluffyChat with
choose an app… SimpleX Chat Tinode Element Web Berty ejabberd Dendrite qTox Cinny Converse.js Openfire Quicksy Bridge Dino Nheko Tuwunel Conduit ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity Toxic Convos IRC Syphon Element Call Dendrite Lite Delta Chat Element X Fractal Maubot Briar JSXC Hydrogen matrix-nio Continuwuity mautrix-signal CoyIM Gajim 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
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 Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire 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 FluffyChat Synapse Category Matrix & XMPP Matrix & XMPP License AGPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0 Language Dart Python Setup difficulty Easy Hard Min. RAM 64 MB 1,024 MB Deployment bare-metal, source docker, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 3,039 ★ 4,503 First released 2019 2014 Replaces WhatsApp, Telegram Slack, Discord, WhatsApp
Why pick each one
Choose FluffyChat if… Released under the AGPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Active community (3k GitHub stars) Written in Dart FluffyChat details Choose Synapse if… Open federated protocol Strong encryption Bridges to other chats Synapse details
Frequently asked questions Is FluffyChat or Synapse better? Neither is universally better. Synapse has the larger community, while FluffyChat is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are FluffyChat and Synapse free and open-source? Yes. FluffyChat is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Synapse under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run FluffyChat and Synapse with Docker? FluffyChat: check the project docs for container support. Synapse: yes.