# Prosody XMPP server

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/prosody/

19 people recommended Prosody XMPP server in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 12 months, in 13 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a lightweight, low-maintenance XMPP server that runs on almost anything and migrates easily. Caveat: some modules conflict, and voice call TURN/STUN setup trips people up.

Summary written by Claude from 27 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 26 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Light on resources, low maintenance (4 comments in the sample): "I found hosting an xmpp server extremely easy and very light in maintenance with prosody" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49698684)) "the low resource usage was ridiculously pleasant compared to matrix homeserver" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45988479)) "Prosody can run on just about anything and is mostly maintenance-free" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48838890))
- Recommended over other XMPP servers (4 comments in the sample): "If you're a FreeBSD user, or even an experienced hands-on Linux sysadmin, I'd probably recommend going with Prosody" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49703360)) "We have good servers like ejabberd and prosody for XMPP." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46779999)) "you'll probably be happier with Prosody or ejabberd" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47039555))
- Easy to set up (3 comments in the sample): "I just went with Prosody and it took maybe 20 minutes with claude+opentofu+docker to get it added to my stack." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49708875)) "Prosody one could easily set up in 15 minutes or less." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47040246)) "took some config but wasn’t that hard" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428498))
- Happy long-term use, easy migration (2 comments in the sample): "been using it for several years, ever since I switched from my early 2000s jabber.org account to selfhosted" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47039195)) "I had no problem migrating data when changing from ejabberd to Prosody" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49132334))

## What people warn about

- Module conflicts need careful configuration (1 comment in the sample): "Prosody isn't bad but has a reputation of needing attention to be paid to which incompatible modules not to enable together" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47041399))

## What people recommend instead

- [ejabberd](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ejabberd/): 11 recommend, 0 mixed, 3 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Prosody XMPP server", https://hackerapproved.com/p/prosody/ (19 recommend, 1 mixed, 3 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.