Open-source XMPP server comparison chart

Open-source XMPP server comparison chart

Open-source XMPP server comparison chart

Document information
Description:	this document compares the six big open source XMPP/Jabber servers on different topics
Author:	Frank Niedermann (XMPP / Mail)
Version:	2.3
Last change:	2006-08-14
Note:	the comparison is based on the latest stable or development versions of the servers.
Thanks to all the developers, server admins and other people that helped collecting and updating the informations (see the Changelog below)

Select which columns you want to see open or closed. Unfortunately this does not work with all browsers and JavaScript has to be enabled. If you know a better solution let me know :) Known to work with Mozilla and khtml based brwosers.
Wildfire	ejabberd	Jabberd 2	Jabberd 1.4	OpenIM	WPJabber	Description / Example

Section: Basic - Medium - Advanced

Feature	1. Wildfire	2. ejabberd	3. Jabberd 2	4. Jabberd 1.4	5. OpenIM	6. WPJabber	Description / Example
Status	up to date	up to date	up to date	up to date	needs update	needs update
Websites	project page appendant company	project page Process-one	project page project page on jabberstudio	project page	project page	-
License	Open Source (GPL)	Open Source (GPL)	Open Source (GPL)	Open Source (JOSL and GPL, user can choose)	Open Source (BSD)	Open Source (GPL)
Platforms	anything that can run Java 1.5	anything that can run Erlang: many unices (including Linux, Solaris, *BSD), Windows and Mac OS X	many unices (including Linux, Solaris, *BSD) and Windows	many unices (including Linux, Solaris, *BSD) and Windows	anything that can run Java 1.4	Linux only, for the native c2s a vanilla Linux 2.6.x or 2.4.x with epoll patch necessary
Features	full web-based administration very easy setup anonymous logins built-in Multi-User-Chat module cross platform (Java) LDAP integration and ability to easily integrate with any user/auth system scalable architecture using SEDA and database back-end different translations available (English, Chinese, German, Dutch and maybe more) stringprep support support for plugins	Web interface and command line tool for administration Straightforward installers for Windows and Linux built-in Multi-User-Chat module Cross platform (Erlang) Support for LDAP, external and internal authentication Out-of-the box scalability (use of Erlang lightweight processes) Localized (English, German, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, Ukrainian) IDNA and Stringprep Modular architecture SASL and STARTTLS for c2s Publish-Subscribe module Statistics Gathering module JUD module based on vCards IRC transport module Support for ACLs Blocking Communication (Privacy Rules) (module) Message expiration Sending of anounce-messages (module) Testing of ejabberd is possible with ready-to-run CDROM image (Erlang REPOS) Ahead in support for newer protocols More information can be found in the feature sheet blocking account names for registration, require min./max. length of usernames fault-tolerance, clusterable, distributable, flexible, well tested, reliable	SASL and STARTTLS ahead in support for newer protocols new features planned for 2.1 (Roadmap)	SASL and STARTTLS for c2s flexible well tested reliable distributable very compatible to existing software limiting spool file size and hash spool directory structure negative priority IDNA and stringprep presence information can be stored in xdb and therefore (using xdb_sql) in a SQL table, can be used by other applications blocking account names for registration, require min./max. length of usernames injecting stanzas by just moving them into a spool directory support for Flexilbe Offline Message Retrieval (JEP-0013)	Java centric dev allowing full J2EE potential extensibility and easy embedded	multithreaded server, can use all processors on a machine special client - server (WPJ) with sys_epoll technology, one WJP can easily handle thousands of concurrent connections modified architecture that can handle many users and external authorization modules (without blocking whole server) extra PHP module which can do everything, a few lines in a PHP script can substitute any module (example: a PHP module can be XDB, then you can use any database that is supported by PHP) the used architecture allows to have a pool of WPJ for more than one server (more domains which can be on one or several servers) support for all features from official protocol without SASL

Section: Basic - Medium - Advanced

Feature	1. Wildfire	2. ejabberd	3. Jabberd 2	4. Jabberd 1.4	5. OpenIM	6. WPJabber	Description / Example
Stability	high, there are many deployments, code base has been under development for several years	high, it works stable on several big hosts, code base has been under development for several years, good s2s stability	In production on many mid-size sites and some large sites	high, works stable on several big hosts	successfully used in production since January 2004	high, works stable on several big hosts
Development	active, developing new enhancements and fixing open bugs	active, developing new enhancements and fixing open bugs	active, developing new enhancements and fixing open bugs	active, developing new enhancements	inactive, fixing open bugs	inactive, no changes for a longer time
Amount of developers	two main developers (Gaston Dombiak, Matt Tucker) and some contributors from Jive Software, Ryan Graham working on plugins and bug-fixes, some contributors also working on plugins	one main developer (Alexey Shchepin, interview) and several other contributors. Code is also being exchanged with the J-EAI project, some contributions are available on the website.	two (Justin Kirby, Stephen Marquard)	one (Matthias Wimmer)	two (Alexis Agahi) and many contributors	one (Lukas Karwacki)
Support	website (Wildfire support site), forum (discussion forum), knowledgebase (Jive Software knowledgebase for Wildfire), commercial support (wildfire support)	mailing list (ejabberd), Chatroom, Forum, Commercial support	mailing list (jabberd)	website with comments (adminguide, adminfaq), mailinglist (jadmin)	mailing list ([email protected]), forums	jabberstudio.org (wpjabber on jabberstudio.org)
Bugfixes	issue database for bug and enhancement reports (JIRA)	bugzilla	bugzilla	bugzilla	issue tracker on java.net	bugtracker on jabberstudio.org
External components / Transports	possible	possible, there are a lot transport tutorials available	possible (information), most transports with JCR or wrapped inside Jabberd 1.4 (sometimes with limitation of transport functions), some transports don't require Jabberd 1.4 and can easily be used (pyMSNt, jabber-gg-transport)	possible JEP-0114, also support for session protocol of jabberd2	none	JIT native, other transports wrapped inside Jabberd 1.4 or JCR	Note: often the integration of transports is easier on Jabberd 1.4
Rostermanagement / Rosterchanges	possible through the Wildfire API	possible via web interface, XMPP compliant with workaround for JIT (allowing JIT to automatically add items from ICQ contact list)	iq:roster is almost XMPP compliant, a template with JIDs for new rosters available, users only have entries on their roster which they have asked for	very flexible and dynamic with mod_groups (existing rosters can be adjusted) but deprecated and extremely buggy, users only have entries on their roster which they have asked for (XMPP compliant, no roster pushes allowed any more)	possible using custom plugin	no extra tools available
Shared Roster Groups	possible	possible	not possible (but it's possible to edit the roster tables in the database, but this is not explicitly supported by the server)	not possible	not possible	not possible
vCards	complete records	complete records	subset of records	complete records	complete records	complete records
Multi-User Chat (JEP-0045)	possible out-of-the-box	possible out-of-the-box (default enabled module), and also possible in the jabberd2 way (http://ejabberd.jabber.ru/mu-conference) - remark: only for geeks :)	possible with transport wrapped inside Jabberd 1.4 or with JCR	possible with plugin	not possible	possible	Note: Multi-User-Chat is also available as JEP-0114 component
Message logging	possible via XML files, custom handling is possible	possible as extension with code from the J-EAI project, also external tool available (Bandersnatch, Bandersnatch Tutorial)	external tool available (Bandersnatch)	possible	possible	possible
Security/encryption (server-side, s2s)	s2s-encryption possible (TLS and SASL External)	s2s-encryption possible (STARTTLS+dialback and SASL External), see http://ejabberd.jabber.ru/s2s-encryption	s2s-encryption possible (STARTTLS)	s2s-encryption possible (STARTTLS and SASL External)	s2s-encryption with SSL	no s2s-encryption
Security/encryption (client-side, c2s)	SASL, TLS, SSL on separate port (deprecated)	SASL, STARTTLS, SSL on separate port is also possible (but deprecated)	SASL, STARTTLS	SASL, STARTTLS, SSL on separate port is also possible (but deprecated)	SSL on separate port (deprecated)	SSL on separate port (deprecated)
Web client	possible with Flash (XIFF API), JWChat tested by a few people	possible with JWChat (via http-polling), manual	not yet, missing a http polling/binding proxy or component that works with Jabberd 2. Could work with Punjab but this is not tested yet.	possible with JWChat addon	not yet (but can be embedded as a servlet using HTTP Merlin facility)	not possible
Tools	Smack (open source XMPP client library also developed by Jive Software)	ejabberdctl (show users, register new users, remove users, backup/restore database to/from files, reopen the log-files), some contributions on http://ejabberd.jabber.ru/contributions like ejabberdctl-extra, mod_chatcommands, webadmin-commands	not many tools available yet, support for service administration (jep-0133) is planned for version 2.1	many tools available	none	none
Ease of use to install/administer	installation is quite easy, there are installers for most platforms application can also be unzipped and run directly from the command line application can be run as service on Windows or daemon on Unices (Linux for example)	installation using the installers is very easy installation from source is not very hard, requires small amount of preinstalled packages (erlang, expat) administration is easy due to web-based and command-line administration interfaces application can be run as service on Windows or daemon on Unices (Linux for example)	Jabberd 2 is already included in many Linux distributions, manual installation should be straightforward (standard unix configuration/make/make install + DB setup). I'ts fairly well documented and works out-of-the-box	Jabberd is already included in many Linux distributions, for manual installation only libpth is required as preinstalled package and openssl is an optional package for Jabberd 1.4 CVS libpth, libidn and expat are required, openssl is optional automake/autoconf build environment configuration is done using a XML file there is no command line configuration tool available but Jabberd 1.4 has little administration needs	installation is very easy (download merlin and type merlin-config http://www.dpml.net/ openim/configs/ openim-server-1.2.2.xml http://www.dpml.net/ openim/blocks/ openim-server-1.2.2.block)	installation should be easy, standard unix installation process
Administration utilities	web-based console	command line utility ejabberdctl, web-based interface, simple configuration file including help text, also have a look at the Tools section	few scripts on http://scriptrepo.jabberstudio.org	some scripts on http://scriptrepo.jabberstudio.org	JMX console via Merlin could be possible	none
Maintenance simpleness	easy because all data is stored in external databases, current binaries get replaced, database contents get upgraded with scripts	easy, read the release notes included in new versions if you install from source. Usually few manual changes are needed. Installation via distribution package system is even more easy. Database tables will be automatically upgraded (if changed) when the new ejabberd version is started.	new versions should install over the top, no database changes necessary, restart required	new versions should install over the top, data will be converted by the server if necessary, adaptions to the configuration may be required	easy	standard unix way, there are patches and cvs versions
Documentation	available	Installation and operation guide, ejabberd book	installation and administration guide	manual-pages, a lot of documents about administration and configuration, faqs, developer guide out of date	installation guide and some short tutorial	some faq
Packages for operating systems	Windows 2000/2003/XP, RedHat and Unices with tar.gz package	Binary installers for Windows and Linux, Debian/FreeBSD/Ubuntu/..., Complete list of packages	RedHat, Gentoo, FreeBSD, Debian, PLD (Wiki page)	Debian, Gentoo, Redhat Source RPMs, Mandrake, OpenBSD, Solaris 2.6, Solaris 7, Solaris 8, Windows2000/2003/XP, Windows/Cygwin	no packages available, merlin can be used to handle a binary version of the application	no update yet

Section: Basic - Medium - Advanced

Feature	1. Wildfire	2. ejabberd	3. Jabberd 2	4. Jabberd 1.4	5. OpenIM	6. WPJabber	Description / Example
Flexibility	not distributable/clusterizable yet Java implementation can use JDBC or JNDI to store data in database or directory pure Java embedded database is included that can be used for small deployments extensible with plugins, they can be deployed without restarting and dynamically update the admin console	fully distributable database can be replicated to many nodes The default database, Mnesia, is suitable for small, as well as big deployments. code can be updated while ejabberd is running (feature of Erlang) loading and unloading of modules while ejabberd is running is possible (feature of Erlang) Modular design	only one instance of the router is possible, all components have to connect to this instance there are always multiple processes with separate config files, every socket needs an own process the database scheme of storage for the session manager depends on a finished layout and can not be changed, the c2s manager can use any schema and can be customized no option for using multiple session managers for the same domain yet	multiple routers which interact with each other, c2s and s2s clusters are possible (advantageous if distributing Jabberd 1.4 to multiple different hosts) it is possible to run as one process with multiple IP adresses and one config file the data store can also be accessed via the router the database scheme is flexible and does not depend on a finished layout, thereby an existing sql storage from a website can be used for authentication on Jabber as example no option for using multiple session managers for the same domain yet (will be developed)	not distributable/clusterizable yet Java implementation using Apache Avalon Merlin micro kernel, inversion of control design pattern for simple modularity (allows easy administration on cluster or a network via multiple installation) can use JDBC or JNDI to store data in database or directory can be embedded (with the help of Merlin)	multiple routers which interact which each other, c2s cluster is possible it is possible to run as one process with multiple IP adresses and one config file the data store can also be accessed via the router the database scheme is flexible and does not depend on a finished layout, thereby an existing sql storage from a website can be used for authentication on Jabber as example	Example for ejabberd update while the daemon is running: a translation can be added to the server without reloading or restarting ejabberd. This is very interesting for systems that can't be putted offline for software updates (air traffic control systems or telephone exchanges for example)
Protocol-standards compatibility (XMPP Core, XMPP IM)	not fully compatible: only missing privacy lists	fully compatible	not fully compatible: missing support for SASL authentication on s2s links no support for xml:lang	not fully compatible: missing support for privacy lists	not fully compatible, supported features are message, presence, roster, subscription, vCard, offline storage, oob (lan file transfer), browse and search	not fully compatible: incomplete support for privacy lists missing support for SASL authentication, resource binding and session establishment missing support for STARTTLS allows forbidden subscription state changes does not support negative priority values no nodeprep/nameprep/resourceprep support no support for internationalized domains no support for XMPP style stanza errors no support for internationalization using xml:lang
IPv6	possible (but not tested)	possible	possible	possible	possible	not possible
Data stores	storage, auth and user info data can be stored in databases storage: MySQL, Postgresql, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Berkeley DB auth and user info: any data store (LDAP and Active Directory for example)	only authentication data and vCards can be taken from LDAP with modules, default data is stored in Mnesia (distributed, fault-tolerant database of Erlang), ODBC data storage support (possible to use relational database storage), PostgreSQL	storage and auth data can be stored on different depositions with special modules, it is possible to create an own auth plugin. storage: MySQL, Postgresql, Oracle, sqlite, Berkeley DB, file auth: MySQL, Postgresql, Berkeley DB, LDAP, PAM	storage and auth data can be stored on different depositions with special modules, storage and auth data are both handled by XDB so any XDB module can be used storage and auth: MySQL, Postgresql, Oracle, file, LDAP, Perl	storage and auth data can be stored on different depositions storage and auth: file, LDAP, Database via JDBC or Hibernate (experimental)	storage and auth data can be stored on different depositions with special modules, storage and auth data are both handled by XDB so any XDB module can be used, not all modules are available for WPJabber (needs to be ported)	Example: Jabberd 1.4 can authenticate against LDAP, use the rosters in MySQL and store the vCards as files
MySQL storage	supported	should be possible, but not tested	contained in base package	supported	via hibernate (experimental) and JDBC	MySQL storage possible with jabberd 1.4 as background server, xdb_sql could be wrapped into a Jabberd 1.4 and used with WPJabber (like a transport), but this needs Jabberd 1.4 because JCR has no XDB support.
Virtual host support	not possible yet	enhanced virtual hosting possible	possible, but only one SSL certificate per socket can be used (limitation of the SSL protocol), same for STARTTLS	possible, virtual hosting for SSL possible using STARTTLS	not possible	possible, but only one SSL certificate per socket can be used (limitation of the SSL protocol)	Description: multiple hostnames/domains on a single IP address
XML-Namespace handling	very good	not so good yet	very good	very good	very good	not so good yet
Browsing (deprecated, JEP-0011)	not possible	not possible	possible, it has to be activated manually	possible	possible	possible	Note: Browsing is deprecated in favor of service discovery
Discovery (JEP-0030)	possible	possible	possible	possible	possible	possible
HTTP-polling (JEP-0025)	not supported	possible via built-in module	possible	possible	possible	possible	Note: HTTP-polling is possible with every server using Tonneru
HTTP-binding (JEP-0124)	not supported out of the box, external component that works like a proxy can be used for HTTP-binding (PunJab)	not possible out of the box, external component that works like a proxy can be used for HTTP-binding (PunJab)	not possible out of the box, external component that works like a proxy can be used for HTTP-binding (PunJab)	not yet, planned for version 1.4.5, external component that works like a proxy can be used for HTTP-binding (PunJab)	not in current bin distribution but easy to setup, also possible with external component that works like a proxy (PunJab)	not possible out of the box, external component that works like a proxy can be used for HTTP-binding (PunJab)
Accounting (statistics/reporting stuff)	possible (basic stats available, no complex recording backend yet), also with an external tool (V2Stats, commercial product)	support for Statistics Gathering, Statistics are also available in the web interface, also see contribution http://ejabberd.jabber.ru/mod_stats2file	not possible	some accounting possible (amount of messages, presences and iqs can get logged)	possible	possible
Authentication methods (client-side, c2s)	Non-SASL: plain text and MD5 SASL: PLAIN, DIGEST-MD5 (only authentication part), ANONYMOUS	Non-SASL: JEP-0078 (plain and digest), jabber:iq:auth SASL: PLAIN, DIGEST-MD5	Non-SASL: JEP-0078 (plain and digest), jabber:iq:auth SASL: PLAIN, DIGEST-MD5 (only authentication part), ANONYMOUS	Non-SASL: JEP-0078 (plain and digest), jabber:iq:auth SASL: not possible	Non-SASL: JEP-0078 (plain and digest), jabber:iq:auth SASL: PLAIN, DIGEST-MD5 (only authentication part)	Non-SASL: JEP-0078 (plain and digest), jabber:iq:auth SASL: not possible	Description: Possible are Non-SASL (JEP-0078) and SASL (XMPP-Core)
Migration (one server to another)	possible because of open database schema, migration tools have to be written oneself at the moment	Migration from jabberd 1.4, Migration from jabberd2, Migration from WPJabber (with jabberd14)	migration of passwords and rosters from Jabberd 1.4 is possible, there is also a migration script available on http://scriptrepo.jabberstudio.org	migration (any storage) from Jabberd 1.4 to Jabberd 2 is possible with a script which is distributed with Jabberd 2, migration from Jabberd 2 to Jabberd 1.4 is possible with a special script from Matthias	not possible	possible, the directories have to be converted, there is a tool to do this convertion to wpjabber
User management	possible	possible via web interface, ejabberdctl (command line tool), Tkabber	planned for version 2.1 (via client, JEP-0050)	planned (management per client with admin-user) for version 1.4.5	nothing dedicaded	none
Debugging	possible, can be changed without restart at the administration webconsole	very verbose debugging possible (maybe not usable for everyone), recompile and restart necessary to enable / disable debugging	possible, compiling with --enable-debug and running with -D necessary, debugging can be enabled individually for each component but the server has to be restarted, the usual C debugging tools can be used (gdb, etc.)	possible with command line parameter (-D) or configuration setting, configuration setting can be changed without restart	possible, log debug levels can be configured and jvm debug feature can be used, server has to be restarted	no update yet
Welcome and auto-reply messages	not possible	welcome message is possible (messages to server-jid will be dropped)	welcome message possible, auto-reply messages not possible	both can be configured in the configuration file with additional languages, an XMPP compatible client will display the appropriate version	possible with small coding addition	no update yet
Examples of live environment	over 1000 concurrent users in several production environments, tested to support around 5000 concurrent users	mxit.co.za, about 23000 users maximum online (test environment with benchmark tools had 29000 concurrent users), Known ejabberd Servers Page for more examples	mxit.co.za, 9000 concurrent online users reported	amessage.info, almost 2000 users maximum online, about 3500 users per day	jabber.open-im.net, almost 50 users maximun online, about 20 users per day; there are corporate environments with more users	jabber.wp.pl, almost 50.000 users maximum online during tests, about 20.000 users per day

Ideas:

• Sander Devrieze: intro page where people can select the servers they want to compare with each other (an alphabetic ordered ul-list with checkboxes e.g.); the generate page with all selected servers on it
• Stephen Marquard: Basically I think the features should be compared consistently. A starting point would be for XMPP and XMPP-IM, to note only features that are missing (otherwise assumed present, like stringprep, etc.)
• Stephen Marquard: After that the supported JEPs should be listed for comparison, as j2 does in its PROTOCOL file: http://jabberstudio.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/cvs/jabberd2/PROTOCOL?rev=1.2.2.2
• Matt Tucker: change the content of each column to a colour (green, yellow, red) circle, holding the mouse over the circle would show the details: http://www.jivesoftware.org/forums/servlet/JiveServlet/download/40-14525-97382-2104/2005-04-13_chat.pdf

Changelog:

• 06-08-14: small updates from Mawis for Jabberd 1.4
• 05-12-29: renamed Jive Messenger to Wildfire (new product name)
• 05-12-25: small updates from Sander for ejabberd
• 05-12-11: small updates from Matthias and a French guy called remi
• 05-10-29: updates from Sander for ejabberd and Gaston for Wildfire
• 05-10-27: some updates from Alexey for ejabberd
• 05-10-19: some updates from Matt for Wildfire, Mawis for Jabberd 1.4 and Stephen for Jabberd 2
• 05-08-13: a lot of updates from Sander Devrieze for ejabberd
• 05-08-08: version 2.1: no updates on Jabberd 1.4, small update on Jabberd 2, updated ejabberd, updated Wildfire, no updates on OpenIM. New sorting order for the columns
• 05-04-14: some updates from the community, this document is now linked on the pages run a server and servers on jabber.org
• 05-04-13: release on jabber.org, note about updating WPJabber column after new WPJabber version got released (planned for May 2005)
• 05-04-09: organized the contents into three sections: basic, medium, advanced
• 05-04-06: Jabberd 2 column updated + ack from Stephen
• 05-04-04: Wildfire column updated + ack from Matt
• 05-04-01: ejabberd column updated + ack from Alexey, Jabberd 1.4 column updated + ack from Matthias, no updates on OpenIM column + ack from Alexis
• 05-03-31: *** version 2.0 *** changed status from complete to update on all servers
• 05-01-25: updates for ejabberd (website, support, bugzilla, http/html-client, browsing, live environment, manual, packages, database, virtual host)
• 04-11-30: updates for Jabberd 2 from Stephen Marquard
• 04-10-26: version 1.1 (new column Wildfire), infos from Justin on Jabberd 2 development, updated infos from Matt for Wildfire
• 04-10-12: infos from Matt for Wildfire
• 04-10-10: name changed to Open-source Jabber server comparison chart, announcement on jadmin mailinglist
• 04-10-09: updates from Maqi
• 04-10-07: note about stable or CVS versions of the servers is bold now, updates from Alexey
• 04-10-06: a lot of information from Sander Devrieze, info from Matthias about STARTTLS for Jabberd 1.4
• 04-10-02: JavaScript functionality: select which columns should be open or closed
• 04-09-03: new table Column selection and images on the column headlines for opening and closing columns, both without functionality yet
• 04-08-30: style changes, content updates, copyright-note
• 04-08-11: info from Lukas for WPjabber
• 04-08-09: info and ack from Alexis, new order for the topics, new size for the table
• 04-08-05: new topic virtual host from Trejkaz
• 04-08-04: infos for OpenIM from Alexis
• 04-08-03: infos for Jabberd2 from Rob, some new infos for OpenIM from Alexis, some new infos for Jabberd 1.4 from Matthias, infos for ejabberd from Alexey
• 04-08-02: infos for OpenIM from Alexis, two new points from Alexis
• 04-07-26: new infos for ejabberd from Alexey
• 04-07-25: new column for WPJabber on info from Lotussteve, added w3c validator-icons, a lot of infos from Matthias again for WPJabber, some improvements for Jabberd 1.4 from Matthias
• 04-07-24: idea for new colum for OpenIM from bef, new informations from Matthias, some new entries, design with css
• 04-07-19: new column for ejabberd, new entries and informations for ejabberd from Alexey
• 04-07-17: some updates and new entries from stpeter
• 04-07-15: a lot of information from Matthias
• 04-07-15: *** version 1.0 *** creation of the page

Copyright (c) 2004 Frank Niedermann. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is available on http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.