Dendrite vs Movim
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted matrix & xmpp options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Movim
Social and chat platform built on XMPP
| Feature | Dendrite | Movim |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 86 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,625 | ★ 2,055 |
| First released | 2017 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Facebook, Slack |
What are Dendrite and Movim?
Dendrite
Dendrite is a lightweight, efficient Matrix homeserver written in Go by the Matrix.org team. It is designed to be a more resource-efficient alternative to Synapse while remaining fully compatible with the Matrix protocol.
- Lower memory footprint than Synapse
- Federated Matrix protocol
- End-to-end encryption support
- Polylith and monolith deployment modes
Movim
Movim is a federated social networking and instant messaging platform built on the XMPP protocol. It provides a modern web interface for chat, group conversations, and a publish-subscribe news feed.
- XMPP-based federation
- Modern web chat interface
- Built-in blogging and news feed
- OMEMO end-to-end encryption
Dendrite vs Movim: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Dendrite's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Movim is actively maintained. Dendrite is written in Go, while Movim is built with PHP. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Dendrite versus AGPL-3.0 for Movim. Movim is the more established project (first released 2010), while Dendrite arrived in 2017. Dendrite has the considerably larger community, at 5,625 GitHub stars versus 2,055.
Why pick each one
Choose Dendrite if…
- Much lighter than Synapse
- Active development by Matrix.org
Watch out for
- Some Synapse features still missing
- Less battle-tested at large scale
Choose Movim if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Watch out for
- Requires an XMPP server
- Smaller ecosystem
Frequently asked questions
Is Dendrite or Movim better?
Neither is universally better. Dendrite has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Dendrite and Movim free and open-source?
Yes. Dendrite is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Movim under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dendrite and Movim with Docker?
Dendrite: yes. Movim: yes.