Matrix server feature differences? (aka Which server software to choose?)

2026-02-17 16:01 UTC

Are there ressources that help you find the right Matrix server software in 2026? There’s Conduit, continuwuity, Tuwunel and Synapse, but what are the differences between them? Which one should I choose when all I want is a homeserver that allows E2EE, federation (optional), voice calls, screen sharing, reliable mobile notifications and that ideally isn’t a ressource hog (aka what people say about Synapse)?

Replies (4)

@stratself@lemdro.id 2026-02-18 02:55

- E2EE: all servers support it - Federation: this is where most of the resource hog is. If you disable it you can use anything. I enable it and use continuwuity. - Voice calls/screen shares: requires [extra integration](https://continuwuity.org/calls) with Element Call + Livekit - Mobile notifs: requires integrating with ntfy or some other UnifiedPush service. Or download Element X from Play Store and use Google's push services Edit: the main differences between these servers are that Synapse is written in Python/Twisted and is known to take up huge storage space. Meanwhile all other mentioned projects are Rust based, has a shared lineage, are usually more efficient with storage and ops, though are more focused on a smaller user size and doesn't yet have advanced Synapse features

Open ##2929811
@assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works 2026-02-17 18:26

Do you keep your pg on the same VM?

Open ##2929812
@assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works 2026-02-17 21:14

Where is your postgres DB + data living?

Open ##2929813
@picnic@lemmy.world 2026-02-17 16:48

Well dunno about any others but I've run synapse on a virtual machine on a thin client. In fact I thats how I currently run it, hypervisor on a hp t640 thin client and a ubuntu vm which is dedicated to matrix. Has served pretty me well since 2019. Same instance, been just relocating the vm to different hypervisors. Yeah you might not like the perf on a rasp 3

Open ##3125603