gomuks vs Openfire
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?
gomuks
Terminal-based Matrix client written in Go
VS
Openfire
Real-time collaboration XMPP server written in Java
| Feature | gomuks | Openfire |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,706 | ★ 3,052 |
| First released | 2018 | 2004 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Slack, Microsoft Teams |
Why pick each one
Choose gomuks if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is gomuks or Openfire better?
Neither is universally better. Openfire has the larger community, while gomuks is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are gomuks and Openfire free and open-source?
Yes. gomuks is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Openfire under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run gomuks and Openfire with Docker?
gomuks: check the project docs for container support. Openfire: yes.