ESS Classic to ESS Pro: Customer migration introduction
Purpose of this guide
ESS Pro is the next generation of Element’s commercial backend distribution and supersedes ESS Classic for new deployments and future backend evolution.
This guide is intended as a preparation for customers to plan their migration to ESS Pro. It compares ESS Classic with ESS Pro from the perspective of an existing ESS Classic customer and highlights what changes operationally, which capabilities are new, and which ESS Classic features are not currently available in ESS Pro.
This guide is not intended to provide guidance on how to conduct the actual migration. A dedicated technical migration guide will be released for this purpose.
If you have questions on the contents of this document or on the migration from ESS Classic to ESS Pro in general, please reach out to Element Support
Introduction
ESS Pro is a more cloud-native, Kubernetes-native backend distribution designed for customers who want stronger automation, repeatable deployments, fleet management, and better scalability across multiple Matrix servers.
Compared with ESS Classic, ESS Pro moves away from the “appliance-like” model that included an installer UI, embedded Kubernetes distribution options, integrated monitoring, and Kubernetes operators. Instead, ESS Pro expects customers to bring their own Kubernetes platform and operate ESS through standard Kubernetes and Helm workflows.
This change gives platform teams more control and makes ESS Pro easier to integrate into enterprise deployment pipelines, GitOps workflows, and existing observability stacks. However, it also means some operational responsibilities move from the ESS distribution to the customer’s Kubernetes and platform tooling.
At a glance
See below the main differences between the product generations. The details on each of the items are outlined in the following sections.
| Area | ESS Classic | ESS Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment model | Installer-led, with graphical setup experience | Kubernetes/Helm-based deployment |
| Kubernetes infrastructure | ESS Classic managed microk8s or customer brings their own Kubernetes cluster | Customer brings their own Kubernetes cluster |
| Kubernetes operators | Used in the Classic architecture | Not used in ESS Pro |
| Setup and configuration (server admin experience) | Primarily through installer UI (or CRD if deployed via the legacy ESS Classic helm chart) | Helm chart values files |
| Application admin experience | Classic Admin Console | Element Admin (new web-based admin console) |
| Fleet management | Not available | Designed for fleet orchestration and CD tooling |
| Multi-tenancy | Not available | Synapse Pro for Small Hosts |
| Monitoring stack | Integrated monitoring stack available | Customer provides monitoring stack |
| Telemetry | Not available | Available in ESS Pro |
| Integration Manager | Included in ESS Classic | On the roadmap for ESS Pro but not currently available |
| Bridges | Bridges available in Classic | XMPP and IRC planned separately in H2 2026; other bridges not planned |
| Content Scanner | Included in ESS Classic | On the roadmap for ESS Pro but not currently available |
| Jitsi Meet | Included in ESS Classic | Discontinued; Element Call is the strategic direction |
| Element Call SPA | Available in ESS Classic | Not available in ESS Pro today |
| Hydrogen | Included in ESS Classic | Discontinued; No replacement |
| Auditing room viewer | Embedded Hydrogen-based viewer in Classic Admin Console | No embedded viewer; audit output written as log files |
| Sydent | Included in ESS Classic | Not available in ESS Pro today |
Major operational changes
ESS Pro does not include an installer UI
ESS Pro does not come with an installer tool and does not provide a graphical user interface for setup and configuration.
In ESS Classic, administrators may have been used to performing installation and configuration tasks through a graphical installer or management interface. In ESS Pro, these activities are performed through Kubernetes and Helm workflows.
Configuration is managed through Helm chart values files.
This is an important change for operations teams. ESS Pro expects a more infrastructure-as-code-oriented approach where configuration can be version-controlled, reviewed, promoted across environments, and integrated into existing release processes.
Element provides documentation for ESS Pro, including examples for setting up a basic Kubernetes stack.
ESS Pro does not deploy Kubernetes infrastructure
ESS Pro does not provide a standalone deployment mode with microk8s.
Customers must provide their own Kubernetes cluster. This means the Kubernetes lifecycle, cluster installation, upgrades, node management, networking, and storage integration are customer responsibilities.
For customers currently using ESS Classic in standalone mode or with microk8s, the general recommendation is to move to k3s or another Kubernetes distribution of their choice. This should be treated as a new deployment on a new server or virtual machine rather than an in-place upgrade.
There will be no in-place migration path for microk8s-based ESS Classic deployments.
This is one of the most important planning considerations for existing ESS Classic customers. A migration to ESS Pro should be planned as a platform migration, not just as an application upgrade.
ESS Pro does not use Kubernetes operators
For some customers, this simplifies deployment considerably because they no longer need administrative permissions in the Kubernetes cluster to install or manage operators. This can make ESS Pro easier to deploy in environments where cluster-level privileges are restricted or centrally controlled by a platform team.
Instead of relying on operators, ESS Pro is deployed and managed through Kubernetes and Helm tooling.
What is new or only available in ESS Pro
Element Admin
ESS Pro introduces Element Admin, a new web-based administration console built around Admin API-based administration.
Element Admin replaces the ESS Classic Admin Console. It is intended to provide a modern administration experience aligned with the backend APIs and operational model of ESS Pro.
For administrators, this means that less configuration will be available to conduct via the admin console UI. All deployment-related configuration will have to be set via Helm values files (see the ESS Pro deployment guide. The new Element Admin console exposes Admin API functionality (especially from Synapse and Matrix Authentication Service) and is supposed to expose more configurations options for application administration in the future.
Fleet management and support for continuous delivery tooling
ESS Pro is designed to work well with fleet management and continuous delivery tooling such as ArgoCD and similar GitOps/CD systems.
This enables customers to orchestrate many individual deployments in a consistent, repeatable way. For organizations operating multiple ESS deployments, multiple tenants, or multiple customer environments, this is a major architectural improvement over an installer-driven model.
Fleet management can also be combined with Synapse Pro for Small Hosts, allowing customers to manage many small deployments with improved operational efficiency.
Multi-tenancy: Synapse Pro for Small Hosts
ESS Pro introduces Synapse Pro for Small Hosts, a multi-tenancy Matrix hosting capability designed for operating many small Matrix homeservers more cost-efficiently.
This is especially relevant for service providers who need to run a large number of small, separate server deployments. Rather than treating each small host as a completely independent operational unit, ESS Pro can support a more efficient multi-tenant hosting model. This capability can also be combined with ESS Pro fleet management.
ESS Pro does not deploy an integrated monitoring stack
ESS Pro does not install or manage a monitoring stack.
Customers need to provide their own monitoring stack in the Kubernetes cluster. This is consistent with the broader ESS Pro design principle: ESS Pro integrates with enterprise platform capabilities rather than deploying and owning the entire platform stack itself.
The ESS Pro Helm chart can link ESS Pro components to an existing monitoring stack where the cluster provides the required capabilities. For example, it can detect ServiceMonitor support and install ServiceMonitors for components that emit Prometheus metrics.
For customers with mature observability platforms, this should make ESS Pro easier to integrate into existing operational practices. For customers who relied on ESS Classic’s bundled monitoring, this becomes a required preparation item before production rollout.
Telemetry
ESS Pro includes tooling to generate and send telemetry reports.
Telemetry reports are going to be useful to inform
- Support cases
- Billing
- Operational and product insights
Customers should plan to review telemetry requirements as part of their ESS Pro introduction, especially where internal governance, security, or compliance teams need to understand what telemetry is collected and how it is used. Telemetry will be enabled by default but it won’t send any data automatically if not configured.
Features not currently available in ESS Pro
The functional scope of ESS Classic and ESS Pro is different today. ESS Pro provides the core set of features from ESS Classic. However, some components are not (or not yet) available due to different reasons which are outlined below. If you are planning a migration to ESS Pro and have questions on any of the below components, please reach out to Element Support.
Integration Manager
ESS Pro does not yet ship the Integration Manager.
The integration manager is the tool invoked by Element Web to add extensions and widgets to rooms.
Customers can still use the hosted integration manager provided by Element, which is configured by default in Element Web.
However, this may not be suitable for all environments. In air-gapped deployments, or for customers with strict digital sovereignty requirements, the integration manager may need to be hosted on premises. This is expected to become possible with ESS Pro at a later point, but it is not currently available.
Bridges
Bridges are not available in ESS Pro in the same way as in ESS Classic
XMPP and IRC bridges will be maintained and delivered separately for customers with a dedicated subscription on these bridges.
There is no support and there are no plans to ship other bridges in ESS Pro, including:
- Telegram
- Skype for Business
- SIP
Customers currently relying on bridges should review each bridge dependency individually. For XMPP and IRC, the future path is separate delivery for customers with a dedicated subscription on these bridges. For other bridges, customers should assume that ESS Pro will not provide a like-for-like replacement.
Content Scanner
Content Scanner, which provides malware scanning for media attachments, is on the ESS Pro roadmap.
It is not currently available in ESS Pro.
Customers with security requirements around attachment scanning should capture this as a migration dependency and assess whether their existing controls can cover the gap until Content Scanner becomes available for ESS Pro.
Jitsi Meet video conferencing
Jitsi Meet has been discontinued as part of the ESS product direction and is superseded by Element Call.
Customers can continue using Jitsi with ESS Pro, but they must maintain the Jitsi deployment separately and connect it to ESS Pro through configuration.
In other words, ESS Pro does not provide Jitsi as an integrated managed component. Customers who continue to require Jitsi should plan for separate ownership, lifecycle management, monitoring, and support boundaries for that deployment.
Element Call Single Page App
ESS Pro supports Element Call today for in-app calling, meaning calls within Element Web or Element X.
The dedicated Element Call Single Page App use case is not available in ESS Pro today. This refers to the standalone browser-based calling experience where users can send a link through arbitrary communication channels and join a video call directly in the browser.
Customers requiring that standalone video call experience should treat it as unavailable in ESS Pro at this time.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is discontinued and will not be made available in ESS Pro.
Hydrogen is a lightweight Matrix client that can be embedded into other applications. In ESS Classic, it was available as a standalone client and was also used as the embedded room viewer for Auditing/AuditBot in the ESS Classic Admin Console.
As Hydrogen is not available in ESS Pro, the embedded audit room viewer is also no longer available.
Auditing / AuditBot embedded room viewer
Auditing and AuditBot in ESS Pro no longer include an embedded room viewer.
Instead, auditing output is written as logs. These logs can be written to a variety of outputs, like file storage or to S3.
Customers who previously used the embedded viewer in the ESS Classic Admin Console should plan for a different audit review workflow, based on log access, storage, retention, and analysis.
Sydent
Sydent is not planned for ESS Pro.
Sydent is an identity server implementation for Matrix that allows users to find Matrix users across federation. The current implementation is only useful in non-enterprise, consumer scenarios.
There are currently no plans to ship Sydent in ESS Pro.