Synapse is the open-source reference homeserver for the Matrix chat protocol. See features, licensing, pricing, and FAQs.
Synapse is the reference server implementation, known as a homeserver, for the Matrix protocol, an open standard for secure and interoperable real-time communication. Matrix originated in 2014, created by Matthew Hodgson and Amandine Le Pape inside Amdocs, and later became independent under the nonprofit Matrix.org Foundation.
Synapse is developed and maintained by Element, the company behind the Element chat client, and is the most widely deployed and feature-complete Matrix homeserver available. It is written primarily in Python using the Twisted networking framework, with increasing use of Rust for performance-critical components.
Synapse supports single sign-on authentication, a comprehensive admin API for managing users and rooms, and a pluggable module system that lets operators extend or customize server behavior without modifying the core code.
For larger deployments, Synapse can run as horizontally scaled worker processes to distribute load across multiple machines, and it exposes structured logging and metrics so operators can monitor server health in production.
Synapse is free and open-source. As of version 1.99, its source code is available under the AGPL license, or alternatively under a commercial license offered directly by Element for organizations that need terms incompatible with AGPL.
There is no cost to download, self-host, and run Synapse. Element separately offers paid products, such as Element Server Suite, for organizations that want a packaged, vendor-supported deployment rather than managing Synapse from source themselves.
Yes, Synapse is free and open-source, available under the AGPL license, with an alternative commercial license option from Element.
Synapse implements the Matrix protocol, an open standard for secure, decentralized, real-time communication.
Synapse is developed and maintained by Element, the company behind the Element chat client, in coordination with the Matrix.org Foundation.
Yes, Synapse supports federation, allowing a self-hosted server to communicate with other Matrix homeservers across the network.
Synapse is written primarily in Python using the Twisted framework, with growing use of Rust for performance-critical parts.
Yes, Synapse supports SSO authentication for integration with existing identity providers.
Element offers Element Server Suite as a packaged, vendor-supported way to deploy Synapse and related Matrix services.
Synapse is the server (homeserver) that stores and routes Matrix messages, while Element is a chat client application that connects to a Synapse or other Matrix homeserver.