Comparison
Business messengers as of 5 March 2026 — open source, self-hosted, end-to-end encryption.
| Messenger | Open Source Server & Client | True E2EE Default + Forward Secrecy | Trust Model Architecture | Kubernetes Req? Prod Server | Federation Support | E2EE Sync Mobile ↔ Desktop | E2EE Calls 1:1 & Group | Vendor Lock-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Element Matrix protocol | Yes | Yes | Zero-Trust Cryptographic verification | No Docker / Python is enough | Yes Native Server-to-Server | Yes Cross-signing | Yes Element Call (WebRTC) | Low Open protocol |
| Wire | Yes | Yes | Trusted Enterprise E2EE, but central authority | Yes Mandatory for Wire backend | Yes Enterprise Federation only | Yes Up to 8 devices | Yes Built-in WebRTC | Medium Tightly coupled system |
| XMPP Conversations / Dino | Yes | Partial Opt-in (via OMEMO) | Trusted Server With Zero-Trust OMEMO overlay | No Lightweight binaries/Docker | Yes Native Server-to-Server | Partial Modern OMEMO clients only | Partial 1:1 native; Group via Jitsi | Low Vast open ecosystem |
| Jami | Yes | Yes | Zero-Trust Pure P2P | No No server needed (P2P) | No P2P mesh, no federation | Yes Swarm feature | Yes P2P native | Low You own your keys |
| Rocket.Chat | Yes Core only | Partial Opt-in / Partial FW secrecy | Trusted Enterprise E2EE is an overlay | No Docker / Snap / Tarball | Yes Via Matrix-compatible engine | Partial Where E2EE is enabled | Partial Requires Jitsi plugin | Medium Open core |
| SimpleX Chat | Yes | Yes | Zero-Trust No user identifiers | No Lightweight relay binaries | No Isolated relays | No Isolated by design | Partial 1:1 only | Low Exportable DB |
| Mattermost | Yes Core only | No In-transit/at-rest only | Trusted Enterprise Server has full access | No Docker / Binary | Partial Shared Channels feature only | No No true E2EE | Partial Requires Calls plugin | Medium Proprietary schema |
| Wickr AWS | No Proprietary | Yes | Trusted Enterprise E2EE payload, central admin | Yes Enterprise On-Prem requires K8s | Yes Wickr-to-Wickr network | Yes | No Proprietary backend | High Amazon ecosystem |
| Session | Yes | Yes | Zero-Trust Decentralized nodes | No Global decentralized nodes | No Onion-routed network | Yes | Partial 1:1 beta only | Low Decentralized network |
| Threema | No Client only | Yes | Trusted Server E2EE, but central router | No Docker available for OnPrem | No Closed network | Yes Threema 2.0 | No Proprietary backend | High Proprietary server |
| Signal | Yes | Yes | Zero-Trust SGX Enclaves / TOFU | N/A Not practical to self-host | No Walled garden | Yes | No Cannot self-host | High No third-party clients |
| Briar | Yes | Yes | Zero-Trust Device-to-Device | No P2P | No Tor/Bluetooth | No | No | Low Open source P2P |
| No | Yes | Trusted Server Meta manages metadata | N/A Not self-hostable | No | Yes | No | High Meta ecosystem | |
| Telegram | No Client only | Partial Secret Chats only | Trusted Server Server holds cloud keys | N/A Not self-hostable | No | No Secret Chats do not sync | No | High Proprietary cloud |
| Slack / Teams | No | No | Trusted Enterprise Full server visibility | N/A SaaS only | Partial Slack Connect / Guest | No | No | High SaaS monopoly |
- Yes Fully supported
- Partial Caveats / extra config
- No Not supported
- Meets all business requirements
- Partially meets requirements
- Does not meet requirements