Prose vs Synapse
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 Prose with
choose an app… SimpleX Chat Tinode Element Web Berty ejabberd Dendrite Cinny Converse.js Openfire FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Dino Delta Chat Element X Briar mautrix-signal Session Chatmail Relay Snikket Wesh Network Monocles Chat
Compare Synapse with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip SimpleX Chat Tinode Element Web Spectrum Let's Chat Berty Mumble Matterbridge ejabberd The Lounge Dendrite qTox Cinny WeeChat Ergo Converse.js Revolt irssi Openfire FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Tox Dino Nheko Tuwunel Conduit Spacebar Nextcloud Talk ZNC Movim mautrix-whatsapp MongooseIM gomuks Profanity InspIRCd Toxic Convos IRC Syphon Element Call KiwiIRC Dendrite Lite Bonfire Delta Chat Element X Fractal Maubot Briar Mumble Web JSXC Hydrogen matrix-nio Continuwuity mautrix-signal CoyIM Gajim Miaou 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 conduwuit Prosody
Feature Prose Synapse Category Matrix & XMPP Matrix & XMPP License MPL-2.0 AGPL-3.0 Language Vue Python Setup difficulty Easy Hard Min. RAM 50 MB 1,024 MB Deployment bare-metal docker, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 58 ★ 4,503 First released 2025 2014 Replaces Discord, Facebook Messenger, Signal Slack, Discord, WhatsApp
Why pick each one
Choose Prose if… Released under the MPL-2.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Written in Vue Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM Prose details Choose Synapse if… Open federated protocol Strong encryption Bridges to other chats Synapse details
Frequently asked questions Is Prose or Synapse better? Neither is universally better. Synapse has the larger community, while Prose is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Prose and Synapse free and open-source? Yes. Prose is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Synapse under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Prose and Synapse with Docker? Prose: check the project docs for container support. Synapse: yes.