Frequently Asked Questions

Payments and Subscriptions¶

Can I have one-time setup without a subscription?¶

No. Our services are subscription-based, and there’s a reason for it: a Matrix server isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it thing. It needs regular updates and upkeep, and a subscription is what lets us keep doing that for you.

What kind of payment options do you have?¶

They’re all on the payments page, with guides.

How do I change my payment method?¶

Same steps as fixing a failing subscription: cancel and resubscribe. You cancel the old one and resubscribe using your new payment method (switching from PayPal to card, for example).

Need to confirm the price before you resubscribe? Check it via:

• Ketesa → Server Actions → price
• Scheduler → run price (guide)

Why currency changed from USD to EUR?¶

In 2026, we established a company in Portugal: Etke, Sociedade Unipessoal, LDA. Billing moved from USD to EUR with it, and all subscriptions are now billed in EUR by the company.

Migrations¶

I want to get a new Matrix server from etke.cc based on exported data from my current provider¶

No - we do not support migration from another provider, though you might want to try by yourself. We cannot provide any support for that. Even if you want to pay us fee for migration, it is not possible for us to provide such service.

I want to have an existing Matrix server installed with matrix-docker-ansible-deploy to be maintained by etke.cc¶

If your server runs a relatively up-to-date matrix-docker-ansible-deploy install, moving it to us may be possible.

It needs a look first, because the components we offer (see the Order Form) differ from the playbook’s. Contact us with your vars.yml, credentials stripped out (passwords and secrets), and we’ll tell you whether:

• we can migrate your current configuration as it stands
• or some of what you run isn’t available at etke.cc yet, whether planned or not

I want to have existing Matrix servers installed using any other method to be maintained by etke.cc¶

No. Everything we run assumes the matrix-docker-ansible-deploy layout, so on any other setup there’s nothing for our tooling to take over.

Technical¶

What is Federation? Can I disable it?¶

Both answered on the federation page.

What are the base Matrix components installed on the server?¶

Every server we set up gets these, underneath whatever bridges, bots and extra services you order:

• the Synapse Matrix homeserver software. At this moment, this is the most complete and compatible homeserver implementation. We currently do not offer alternative homeserver software like Conduit or Dendrite.

• the matrix-synapse-shared-secret-auth module for Synapse, which assists various bridges and bots with authentication

• the synapse_auto_compressor tool, which periodically compresses the Synapse database in the background so it keeps running fast

• the Ketesa (formerly Synapse Admin) made by etke.cc web UI tool for homeserver management

• the Coturn TURN server, to assist audio/video calls

• a PostgreSQL database server, storing the data for Synapse and other services

• (only for Bring-your-own-server orders) docker-postgres-backup-local, which keeps 7 daily dumps of your PostgreSQL database on the server. Cloud Hosting orders skip the local dumps: those run on Hetzner Cloud VPS servers we rent for you, so we turn on Hetzner’s own backups instead, keeping the last 7 daily full-disk snapshots.

• optionally, a web client installed on your Matrix server for chatting: Element by default, or an alternative like Cinny on request. Whichever ends up on your server, you can still connect with any compatible Matrix client on any platform. When people ask us what to actually use, we point them at Komai on the desktop and Cinny on the web; the full list is on our clients page.

• a Traefik reverse-proxy server, which obtains free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates for all domains used in your setup

• a Prometheus Node Exporter agent for basic monitoring and alerting. Metrics are collected by our own external Prometheus system, which also does the alerting. When something breaks, the alert reaches us and you at the same time, by email and Matrix.

• … and a few more components that have nothing to do with Matrix, and which the server doesn’t run without

What about deprecated components?¶

They’re listed on the removed components page.

Which ports should be open?¶

Moved to Ports and Firewalls.

Why are .well-known redirects on the base domain important?¶

Moved to Delegation Redirects.

Why does my new Matrix server join new rooms pretty slowly?¶

Big rooms take the longest, and there’s nothing wrong with your server. A fresh one knows nothing about the rest of the federation, so on every join it has to knock on every other server’s door, one rate-limited step at a time, and ask who’s inside.

It gets faster on its own. Every room you join teaches your server about more of the network.

Why does a bridge bot not respond to my command?¶

Two things go wrong here, in roughly this order:

1. Wrong bridge MXID. Check you’re talking to the bridge bot that belongs to your server. The correct Matrix IDs are in your onboarding materials and on the bridge documentation pages.

2. Encrypted room. We enable encryption by default on every bridge and bot that supports it, and some still don’t. Some clients silently create an encrypted room when you start a chat, so if yours is one of the ones that can’t decrypt, it sits there hearing nothing. Create a new room with encryption off and invite the bot into that one. Not sure which yours is? Ask us.

Something else? Try the help pages, or just ask us.

Can I have multiple administrator accounts on my server?¶

Yes. Three separate things get called “admin” here, and they’re granted in three different ways:

1. Matrix homeserver administration. The order form sets up one administrator account, with full access to Ketesa and your server’s admin APIs. You can create more admin accounts yourself, in Ketesa.
2. etke.cc service management. Any administrator on your server can run and schedule maintenance from Ketesa right away, with no extra setup on our side. The Scheduler bot does the same from chat, but it makes you work for it: create the admin accounts (in Ketesa, for instance), send us their Matrix IDs (@someone:YOUR_SERVER, on your own domain only), and we grant each one access by hand. Ketesa skips all of it: every homeserver administrator already has access, no request to us required.
3. Matrix bridge administration. Send us the Matrix IDs (@someone:YOUR_SERVER, or @someone:ANOTHER_SERVER, both work here) and we’ll grant them admin access to your bridges.

Can I change the registration (sign-up) flow?¶

Every server we set up starts on invite-based registration. You can change that. Here’s what’s available, and what open registration costs you.

(Default) Invite-Based Registration¶

The Matrix protocol supports token-authenticated registration: registration is closed, and only someone holding a valid invite token can sign up. Admins issue those tokens from Ketesa, and each token can cover multiple registrations, with options like an expiry date.

Closed Registration¶

Same as invite-based, minus the tokens. Admins register users by hand in Ketesa, and nobody can sign themselves up.

Open Registration¶

Open registration lets anyone on the internet make an account on your server, and it will bring spam and abuse. Every server that opens up gets found. We strongly recommend against enabling it.

If you want it anyway, we require both of these on your server first:

• Email verification on every new registration. Users confirm their address before the account works. Your server sends those emails itself, and you already have SPF, DMARC and DKIM configured, since that was a prerequisite for your setup. Gmail, Outlook and ProtonMail will still swallow a good share of them, so we recommend an SMTP relay through a transactional email service (Sendgrid, Postmark, Mailgun).
• A moderation system. We offer Draupnir, which has spectacular protection capabilities against spam and abuse. It’s battle-tested, it runs on a lot of Matrix servers, and the Matrix community recommends it.

We also strongly recommend reading the guide about Matrix moderation and joining Muninn Hall, where Matrix server administrators and moderators coordinate against the spam waves that will happen.

We prohibit enabling open registration without the requirements mentioned above. Yes, you may find this restrictive or inconvenient, but it is necessary to protect your server and its users from spam and abuse.

Homeservers across the federation automatically block servers with no registration protections. We suggest our customers do the same.

Single Sign-On (SSO)¶

Single Sign-On with an OpenID Connect provider opens registration to a specific group of people. It works alongside every other type here: invite-based, closed, or open, with or without domain restrictions. Link your server to something like Google Workspace and your users get one-click registration while everyone else stays out.

Can I modify the server configuration or run additional services?¶

You’re paying us to run the server, on your hardware or ours. Its configuration and maintenance are our job, so you can use Matrix without thinking about upkeep.

Which means: don’t hand-edit the Matrix configuration on the server. Two reasons.

• our config is the single source of truth, so your change gets wiped and replaced on the next maintenance run
• it breaks things, and then it’s our support queue

Want something changed? Ask us. That’s what the subscription is for.

Running your own services alongside our stack is fine, with three caveats:

• it can break our stack
• our upgrades can break it, at any time, with no warning
• none of it comes with support from us