Synapse is the best server for now, and works relatively well (resource usage has improved lots over the last year). Bridges plug into the server, and there’s typically at least one good one per protocol: matrix-appservice-irc, matrix-appservice-slack, mautrix-telegram, mautrix-whatsapp etc. We need to improve the UX for provisioning and managing bridges though; atm it’s mix of config files and bot commands.
Thank you for working on Matrix, it has been smooth sailing (after some database cleanup) for me to operate since taking over a homeserver from a frustrated operator nearly half a year ago.
