Tinode vs Nheko
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 Dendrite qTox Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js irssi Openfire FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Dino 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 Nheko with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip Element Web Spectrum Let's Chat Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Dendrite Synapse Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Tox Dino 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 Continuwuity Miaou
Feature Tinode Nheko Category Matrix & XMPP Matrix & XMPP License GPL-3.0 GPL-3.0 Language Go C++ Setup difficulty Medium Easy Min. RAM 256 MB 256 MB Deployment docker, binary binary, source GitHub stars ★ 13,452 ★ 2,472 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 Nheko if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Active community (2.5k GitHub stars) Written in C++ Nheko details
Frequently asked questions Is Tinode or Nheko better? Neither is universally better. Tinode has the larger community, while Nheko is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Tinode and Nheko free and open-source? Yes. Tinode is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Nheko under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Tinode and Nheko with Docker? Tinode: yes. Nheko: check the project docs for container support.