Dendrite vs Prosody
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?
Dendrite
Second-generation Matrix homeserver written in Go
VS
Prosody
Modern XMPP communication server
| Feature | Dendrite | Prosody |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Matrix & XMPP |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 10 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,632 | — |
| First released | 2017 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | — |
Why pick each one
Choose Prosody if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Tiny footprint — runs in 10 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Dendrite or Prosody better?
Neither is universally better. Dendrite has the larger community, while Prosody is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Dendrite and Prosody free and open-source?
Yes. Dendrite is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Prosody under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dendrite and Prosody with Docker?
Dendrite: yes. Prosody: check the project docs for container support.