Fractal vs Tinode
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 Fractal with
choose an app… Element Web Spectrum Mumble ejabberd Dendrite Synapse Cinny Ergo Converse.js Revolt Openfire FluffyChat Tox Dino Nheko Tuwunel Conduit Spacebar ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity InspIRCd Convos IRC Syphon Element Call KiwiIRC Dendrite Lite Bonfire Element X Maubot Mumble Web Continuwuity Miaou
Compare Tinode with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip SimpleX Chat Element Web Let's Chat Berty Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Dendrite qTox Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js irssi Openfire FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Dino Nheko Tuwunel Conduit Nextcloud Talk ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity Toxic Convos IRC Syphon Element Call Dendrite Lite Delta Chat Element X 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
Feature Fractal Tinode Category Matrix & XMPP Matrix & XMPP License GPL-3.0 GPL-3.0 Language Rust Go Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 256 MB 256 MB Deployment binary, source docker, binary GitHub stars ★ 900 ★ 13,452 First released 2017 2016 Replaces Slack, Discord WhatsApp, Slack
Why pick each one
Choose Fractal if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Written in Rust Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM Fractal details Choose Tinode if… Good developer foundation Multiple clients Lightweight Tinode details
Frequently asked questions Is Fractal or Tinode better? Neither is universally better. Tinode has the larger community, while Fractal is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Fractal and Tinode free and open-source? Yes. Fractal is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Tinode under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Fractal and Tinode with Docker? Fractal: check the project docs for container support. Tinode: yes.