Synapse
Server for Matrix, an open standard for decentralized persistent communication.
Actively maintained with regular releases.
Commit activity more than 76% of tracked projects; popularity more than 65%. How this is calculated.
Commits, last 11 months
| Stars | 4.7k |
|---|---|
| Latest release | v1.162.0rc1 · 22 Sept 2026 |
| Repo updated | 25 Sept 2026 |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 |
| Built with | Python, deb |
Is Synapse actively maintained?
Development is ongoing. The repository recorded 821 commits over the same window, and the last three months alone account for 233 of them.
The most recent tagged release, v1.162.0rc1, shipped within the last month — a current, installable version exists today.
Of the 46 projects we track in Communication - Custom Communication Systems, Synapse ranks #12 by health score — in the top quarter of its category.
What Synapse actually does
Synapse acts as a home server for the Matrix ecosystem, implementing an open standard for decentralized and persistent communication. It handles the relaying of messages, user authentication, and synchronisation across multiple clients in a federated network. By hosting this software, you can run your own independent communication node that interoperates with other servers on the network.
Best fit: Self-hosters and organisations wanting to establish a private, federated messaging infrastructure under their own administrative control.
Worth knowing: Resource consumption can be relatively high under load, and managing a federated server requires careful handling of database maintenance and storage growth.
Deployment notes
As a Python application packaged via debian formats, it typically requires a separate PostgreSQL database for optimal performance and a reverse proxy to handle TLS termination.
Links
Alternatives to Synapse
Projects in the same categories, ordered by health score.
Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack).
Notification infrastructure for developers.
Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk).
Platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle, can be integrated with Gitlab (alternative to Slack).
Fully-featured Matrix client for Web, iOS & Android.
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