Dendrite Lite vs Spectrum
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Dendrite Lite
Second-generation Matrix homeserver written in Go
VS
Spectrum
Open-source platform for building online communities
| Feature | Dendrite Lite | Spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Forums & Community |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 955 | ★ 10,837 |
| First released | 2017 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Discord, Discourse |
Why pick each one
Choose Spectrum if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 10.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Dendrite Lite or Spectrum better?
Neither is universally better. Spectrum has the larger community, while Dendrite Lite is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Dendrite Lite and Spectrum free and open-source?
Yes. Dendrite Lite is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Spectrum under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dendrite Lite and Spectrum with Docker?
Dendrite Lite: yes. Spectrum: yes.