Compare software

SAMA vs Synapse: catalog facts
SAMA	Synapse
Free Free and open source under the GPL-3.0 licence.	Free Free under the AGPL; Element sells commercial licenses, support subscriptions and ESS Pro.
Web, Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Server, web client and Flutter client are all open source End-to-end encryption and clustering included	Reference Matrix homeserver maintained by Element Works with any Matrix client
Uses its own protocol, so it does not interoperate with XMPP or Matrix Small project with a limited community	Running a homeserver takes server administration work No support from Element without a paid subscription
Web application, Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-3.0	License: AGPL-3.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.