Synapse
Synapse is an open-source, self-hosted app in the Team Chat category, licensed AGPL-3.0 and written mainly in Python. It is a self-hosted alternative to Slack. It has 4,735 GitHub stars and its last commit was on Oct 24, 2026 (data as of Oct 26, 2026).
GitHub stats
- GitHub stars
- 4,735
- Forks
- 651
- Open issues
- 1,887
- Commits, last 12 months
- 933
- Last commit
- Oct 24, 2026
- Latest release
- v1.163.2Oct 23, 2026
- Created
- Dec 13, 2023
- License
- AGPL-3.0Open source
Data as of from the GitHub API. Report an error
Project health
ActiveActive: last commit Oct 24, 2026, 933 commits in 12 months.
- Regular releases5 releases in 12 months
- Welcomes contributors23 open good-first-issue or help-wanted issues and a contributing guide
- Security policyPublishes a security policy on GitHub
| Last commit | Oct 24, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Commits, last 12 months | 933 |
| Latest release | v1.163.2 (Oct 23, 2026) |
| Releases, last 12 months | 5 |
| Releases, all time | 178 |
| Open issues | 1,887 |
| Open pull requests | 200 |
| Good first issues | 23 |
| Contributing guide | Yes |
| Security policy | Yes |
| Created | Dec 13, 2023 |
Health as of , from the GitHub API. A label describes activity, not quality or security. How we label project health · Report a data error
About Synapse
Server for Matrix, an open standard for decentralized persistent communication.
Description adapted from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0). Source code: github.com/element-hq/synapse.
Open-source alternative to
Synapse can replace these commercial products. Compare every option on each page.
Repository preview
From the blog
Articles about Synapse
Comparisons, rankings and guides on the appsgit blog that cover Synapse.
Similar apps
More apps like Synapse
Other projects in Team Chat, ranked by GitHub stars.
Rocket.Chat
RocketChat/Rocket.Chat
Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack).
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptDockerNovu
novuhq/novu
Notification infrastructure for developers.
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptDockerMattermost
mattermost/mattermost
Platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle, can be integrated with Gitlab (alternative to Slack).
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptDockerChatwoot
chatwoot/chatwoot
Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk).
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatRubyDockerntfy
binwiederhier/ntfy
Push notifications to phone or desktop using HTTP PUT/POST, with Android app, CLI and web app, similar to Pushover and Gotify.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatGoDockerZulip
zulip/zulip
Zulip is a powerful, open source group chat application.
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatPython
Is Synapse free and open source?
Yes. Synapse is open-source software released under the AGPL-3.0 license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.
Can I run Synapse with Docker?
Synapse does not list an official Docker image. It installs natively (Python and deb), so follow the install steps in its README or look for a community-maintained container.
What are the best alternatives to Synapse?
Popular self-hosted alternatives to Synapse include Rocket.Chat, Novu and Mattermost. Synapse itself is a self-hosted alternative to Slack.
Is Synapse actively maintained?
The most recent commit to Synapse was on Oct 24, 2026 with 933 commits in the past twelve months. The latest release is v1.163.2, published Oct 23, 2026. It had 1,887 open issues on GitHub. appsgit's project-health label for it is "Active" as of Oct 26, 2026.