I've only dabbled with both, but the reasons often given is that (apart from surface syntax) the advantages of Elixir over erlang is a powerful macro system, a

I've only dabbled with both, but the reasons often given is that (apart from surface syntax) the advantages of Elixir over erlang is a powerful macro system, a more cohesive standard library (with some nice things like the pipeline operator), and some very nice tooling (mix is great). With all that being said, erlang is a great language as well, so just pick whatever you like the most. Here is a short article that outlines some advantages. http://theerlangelist.com/article/why_elixir http://theerlangelist.com/article/why_elixir