Fractal 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 Fractal with
choose an app… Tinode Element Web Spectrum Mumble ejabberd Dendrite 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 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 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 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 Fractal Synapse Category Matrix & XMPP Matrix & XMPP License GPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0 Language Rust Python Setup difficulty Easy Hard Min. RAM 256 MB 1,024 MB Deployment binary, source docker, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 900 ★ 4,503 First released 2017 2014 Replaces Slack, Discord Slack, Discord, WhatsApp
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 Synapse if… Open federated protocol Strong encryption Bridges to other chats Synapse details
Frequently asked questions Is Fractal or Synapse better? Neither is universally better. Synapse 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 Synapse free and open-source? Yes. Fractal is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Synapse under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Fractal and Synapse with Docker? Fractal: check the project docs for container support. Synapse: yes.