SimpleX Chat vs Synapse
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?
Compare SimpleX Chat with
choose an app… Plane Chatwoot Focalboard Super Productivity Wekan Etherpad OpenProject Habitica Self-Hosted Tinode Planka Leantime Centrifugo Screego Typebot git-bug Kanboard Berty Mumble Kaneo ejabberd The Lounge Papercups Taskwarrior Zammad WorkAdventure Soketi Remark42 Isso FreeSWITCH qTox MiroTalk Ferdium FreeScout Telegram Bot API Server Rustpad Asterisk WeeChat Ergo irssi FluffyChat Quicksy Bridge Kamailio Cusdis Tox Stoat AnyCable Chitchatter Live Helper Chat Spacebar Nextcloud Talk Indico RetroShare SIPCAPTURE Homer Peer-calls MongooseIM mautrix-telegram Routr GlobaLeaks openSIPS mautrix Databag Galène InspIRCd Candy Toxic Hyphanet Syphon FusionPBX soju KiwiIRC Glowing Bear Bonfire Pretalx Delta Chat Element X Notifo SimpleX Briar Quassel IRC OTS matrix-commander Mumble Web Comentario mautrix-signal BitlBee ngIRCd Miaou Session Nextcloud Talk Signaling Server UnrealIRCd MiroTalk C2C matrix-appservice-irc Linphone Chatmail Chatmail Relay SchildiChat Hookshot Snikket Atheme IRC Services Maunium Sticker Picker Spectrum 2 Shhh Gamja Jami Server Bridge Mollysocket Anope PushBits Tigase XMPP Server Comm Heisenbridge Slixmpp Ferdium Server Solanum Wesh Network Draupnir baibot matrix-media-repo Charybdis IRCd Zusam Cactus Comments ircd-hybrid Scuttlebutt Room Robust IRC Flexisip Metronome IM SAMA Biboumi Monocles Chat Hebbot ircu2 Prose Libervia Jami YunoHost Mail Relay 3CX ARN-Messager Freepbx GNUnet Groupboard MailBag Mailman3 Mailing List Manager Mlmmj Web Peachpub PrivMX WebMail SIP3 TrueConf Wazo Yeti-Switch
Compare Synapse with
choose an app… Rocket.Chat Mattermost Zulip 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 Prose conduwuit Prosody
Feature SimpleX Chat Synapse Category Chat & Communication Matrix & XMPP License AGPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0 Language Haskell Python Setup difficulty Medium Hard Min. RAM 256 MB 1,024 MB Deployment docker, binary, source docker, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 19,211 ★ 4,503 First released 2021 2014 Replaces Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram Slack, Discord, WhatsApp
Why pick each one
Choose Synapse if… Open federated protocol Strong encryption Bridges to other chats Synapse details
Frequently asked questions Is SimpleX Chat or Synapse better? SimpleX Chat is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Synapse if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are SimpleX Chat and Synapse free and open-source? Yes. SimpleX Chat is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Synapse under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run SimpleX Chat and Synapse with Docker? SimpleX Chat: yes. Synapse: yes.