Own your communications. Run your own Matrix homeserver with Synapse and take back control of your data.

What Is Matrix and Synapse?

Matrix is an open standard for secure, decentralized, and interoperable real-time communications. Think of it as email but for instant messaging — anyone can run a server, and all servers can talk to each other through federation. You can send messages, make voice/video calls, and share files — all encrypted end-to-end.

Synapse is the reference implementation of a Matrix homeserver, written in Python/Twisted with performance-critical parts in Rust. It is developed and maintained by Element and released under the AGPL license. With over 3,100 GitHub stars and 554 contributors, it is the most widely deployed Matrix homeserver in existence.

Your Matrix ID on a self-hosted Synapse looks like @you:yourdomain.com — your identity, on your domain, forever.

Why Self-Host Your Own Synapse Server?

Privacy & Data Sovereignty

All your messages, files, and metadata live on your server — not on a third-party's infrastructure. No one can read, sell, or hand over your data without your knowledge.

Federation & Interoperability

A self-hosted Synapse server federates with the entire Matrix network. Your users can communicate with anyone on matrix.org, Element, or any other Matrix-compatible service.

Full Control

You decide who can register, what retention policies apply, which bridges to install (Telegram, WhatsApp, IRC, Slack...), and how resources are allocated.

No Vendor Lock-in

Matrix is an open standard. You can switch clients (Element, FluffyChat, Cinny, etc.) or even migrate to a different homeserver implementation without losing your data.

Cost Efficiency for Teams

For small-to-medium teams, self-hosting on a VPS is dramatically cheaper than paid subscriptions to proprietary tools like Slack or Teams.

Bridges & Bots

Synapse supports a rich ecosystem of bridges that connect your Matrix server to other messaging platforms, letting your team use a single interface for all communications.

Getting Started: Install Synapse with Docker

This guide uses Docker and Nginx on a fresh Ubuntu 22.04 server. You'll need:

• A VPS with at least 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
• A domain name pointing to your server IP
• Docker and Docker Compose installed

Step 1 — Point Your Domain

Create an A record for your Matrix domain, e.g.:

matrix.yourdomain.com  ->  YOUR_SERVER_IP

Step 2 — Install Docker

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Step 3 — Generate Synapse Configuration

mkdir -p ~/synapse && cd ~/synapse

docker run -it --rm \
  -v $(pwd)/data:/data \
  -e SYNAPSE_SERVER_NAME=matrix.yourdomain.com \
  -e SYNAPSE_REPORT_STATS=yes \
  matrixdotorg/synapse:latest generate

This creates data/homeserver.yaml — your main configuration file.

Step 4 — Create docker-compose.yml

version: "3"
services:
  synapse:
    image: matrixdotorg/synapse:latest
    container_name: synapse
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
    ports:
      - "8448:8448"
      - "8008:8008"

Start the server:

docker compose up -d

Step 5 — Set Up Nginx Reverse Proxy + TLS

Install Nginx and Certbot:

sudo apt install nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/matrix:

server {
    server_name matrix.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8008;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        client_max_body_size 50M;
    }
}

Enable it and get a certificate:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/matrix /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo certbot --nginx -d matrix.yourdomain.com
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 6 — Create Your Admin User

docker exec -it synapse register_new_matrix_user \
  -c /data/homeserver.yaml \
  http://localhost:8008

Step 7 — Connect a Client

Open Element Web, click Sign In, change the homeserver to https://matrix.yourdomain.com, and log in with the account you just created.

Your Matrix homeserver is now live and federated with the entire Matrix network!

Recommended netcup VPS Plans for Synapse

netcup offers high-performance, GDPR-compliant VPS hosting in European data centers (Germany, Vienna, Netherlands) at some of the best prices on the market — making them an ideal choice for self-hosting Synapse. All plans include DDoS protection, KVM virtualization, and IPv6.

Coupon codes are one-time use — grab one before they run out! For the latest codes, visit netcup.best.

Tips for a Production Synapse Setup

• Use PostgreSQL instead of the default SQLite for any server with more than a handful of users — it dramatically improves performance.
• Enable URL preview caching and configure media storage limits to avoid disk bloat.
• Set up a CAPTCHA (reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha) before enabling open registration to prevent spam bots.
• Host Synapse on a dedicated domain (e.g., matrix.yourdomain.com), not on the same domain as other web apps, to minimize XSS attack surface.
• Keep Synapse updated — the project releases frequently. Check the upgrade notes before each update.
• Join the community at #synapse:matrix.org for admin help and tips.

Resources

• Synapse on GitHub
• Synapse Documentation
• netcup Server Plans
• Element Web Client