Tinode vs Dendrite
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 Tinode with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip SimpleX Chat Element Web Let's Chat Berty Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge 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 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 Dendrite with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip Element Web Spectrum Let's Chat Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Tox Dino Nheko Tuwunel Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity InspIRCd Convos IRC Syphon Element Call KiwiIRC Dendrite Lite Bonfire Element X Fractal Maubot Mumble Web JSXC Hydrogen matrix-nio Continuwuity mautrix-signal CoyIM Gajim Miaou mautrix-discord SchildiChat Ketesa Synapse Admin jabberd2 Mjolnir Construct Tigase XMPP Server Pantalaimon Sliding Sync Proxy matrix-appservice-slack Coqui Chat Synapse-MAS 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 Tinode Dendrite Category Matrix & XMPP Matrix & XMPP License GPL-3.0 Apache-2.0 Language Go Go Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 256 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, binary docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 13,452 ★ 5,632 First released 2016 2017 Replaces WhatsApp, Slack Slack, Discord
Why pick each one
Choose Tinode if… Good developer foundation Multiple clients Lightweight Tinode details Choose Dendrite if… Much lighter than Synapse Active development by Matrix.org Dendrite details
Frequently asked questions Is Tinode or Dendrite better? Neither is universally better. Tinode has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Tinode and Dendrite free and open-source? Yes. Tinode is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Dendrite under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Tinode and Dendrite with Docker? Tinode: yes. Dendrite: yes.