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Discord
All
32
Experiences
Pros
22
Cons
9
Specs
Top
Pro
User friendly
Discord follows the same type of interface design popularised by Slack, which is extremely clean and attractive, and doesn't clutter the interface with unnecessary chrome and cruft.
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Top
Con
Proprietary software
Discord is closed-source, meaning their code isn't available for inspection or reproduction
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Top
Pro
Free for unlimited users
Unlimited amount of users.
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Top
Con
Based on Electron = eats a lot of ram
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Top
Pro
Can be used in browser
Users can invite others to join a Discord channel via a web link, which means no installation is required to use the software - which is one of the big typical barriers to entry for social software.
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Top
Con
Some functions cut out and available only with "Nitro" subscription
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Top
Pro
Good 1-click invite system
Discord allows inviting people to a specific channel with a link. Links can be set to expire. Low effort/passive invite mechanics.
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Top
Con
Developer's previous company was sued for privacy violations, among other things
See: http://classactionlawsuitsinthenews.com/class-action-lawsuit-complaints/openfeint-green-international-privacy-class-action-lawsuit-complaint/ https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/closing-letters/openfeint-inc Discord's privacy policy also states that while they might not sell your data, a company they get sold to will quite possibly attain said data and thus may be in "more" shady hands.
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Top
Pro
Easy setup
You can quickly send invites to people and they can join in using the web client without having to create an account or install the app.
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Top
Con
No self-hosting avaliable
Discord is wholly hosted by Discord (the company), you cannot run private instances, and all servers are hosted on their infrastructure. For most people, this won't really impact their usage.
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Top
Pro
Has low-latency VoIP support
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Top
Con
Not a generic "team chat" tool
All the UI and the features are aimed specifically at communicating with your gaming team/clan.
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Top
Pro
Supports video and text communication
Behaves and looks like Slack for regular text channels, but with the ability to create voice channels as well
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Top
Con
Very unstable on Linux
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Top
Pro
Numerous controls for setting member roles.
Deny access, Deny write message, Allow read messages etc.
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Top
Con
Anti-privacy license terms
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Top
Pro
Ability to create bots
Discord provides an API for creating custom bots.
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Top
Con
Can change "Now Playing" status to something inappropriate
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Top
Pro
Open source bots and management tools
Discord has a wide variety of bots for things from airhorn noises to automated server management, to leveling systems for chat. The bot API is open and there are dedicated sites for finding bots.
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Top
Pro
Game integration
Discord shows which game each user is currently playing, which among other things helps users to form PUGs with minimal hassle.
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Top
Pro
Dark theme out of the box
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Top
Pro
Familiar for Slack users
For those that are used to the way Slack (a similar chat client) works, Discord will be familiar in its use, which lowers the learning curve quite a bit for those that have switched or tried Slack before.
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Top
Pro
Low effort invite mechanics
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Top
Pro
Android app has push notifications
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Top
Pro
Syntax highlighting and Markdown support
The support is limited but still exists. It's a killer feature for dev teams.
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Top
Pro
DDoS mitigation
Discord prevents users from being DDoSed out of games.
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Top
Pro
Targeting of roles
Targeting roles allows for quickly requesting someone from a group e.g. artist, moderator, etc.
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Top
Pro
Ability to thread channels
Ability to create channel categories for channels to sit inside of.
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Top
Pro
Friendly payment policy
Free account have no tangible restrictions. Premium account is just a way to say "thank you" to developers. And it work for all servers of discord (not as in slack). And it can be purchased by one who wants. In contrast to Slask, where all active members of the server should be "premium".
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Top
Pro
Language localization
Have localization for many language, including Russian.
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Top
Pro
Does not allow NSFW related things to be posted unless in a NSFW channel
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Specs
Platforms:
Web, Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android
Search:
Yes
Videoconferencing:
Yes
Audio recording:
No
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Experiences
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474
Telegram
All
37
Experiences
Pros
28
Cons
8
Specs
Top
Pro
Free and convenient large file sharing
Copy/paste videos, gifs, images, geolocation, documents, and even executable files. Drag over files for practically any time up to 2GB in size. Images can be compressed, too.
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Top
Con
Not fully open source
Telegram has an open API and protocol free for everyone, but the backend software is not open source. Therefore 100% privacy can not be evaluated.
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Top
Pro
Free of cost
The application is available free of cost.
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Top
Con
Can only be used with a phone number
It is not possible to activate and use Telegram by mail etc. You need a phone number.
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Top
Pro
Privacy focused
In addition to the end-to-end encryption [only in secret chats] that provides privacy to communications, the app also includes self destructing timers for chats, and the ability to permanently delete messages, yours and theirs, from your and their devices.
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Top
Con
Only "Secret Chat" messages are encrypted end to end
The only way to get end-to-end encryption (client-client) using Telegram is to use the Secret Chat function, anything through the service is server-client encrypted. Also secret chat is only implemented in the mobile apps, meaning there is no way to encrypt messages end-to-end when using the desktop client or the web browser client.
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Top
Pro
Media messaging
Videos, gifs, images, geolocation, and documents.
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Top
Con
"Secret Chat" feature is not available for desktop client
Secret chats with end to end encryption are only available on mobile apps.
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Top
Pro
Channels for one way broadcasting
Broadcasting channels suitable for announcing things.
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Top
Con
No source code sintax highlighting
Telegram does not have source code syntax highlighting, making it difficult to share code snippets.
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Top
Pro
Beautiful UI
Very customizable with a lot of clean looking options.
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Top
Con
Does not work for visually impaired
Doesn't work for visually impaired.
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Top
Pro
Possible to send photos and videos without compression
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Top
Con
Does not support spherical 360° photos
Spherical 360° photos becoming more popular these days, but Telegram does not support such format.
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Top
Pro
Supergroups of up to 200,000 people
In Supergroups, anyone along with admins can delete their messages from all sides. A message can be pinned to the top. All of the user's messages can be deleted by an administrator, and they can be banned and reported as well. Supergroups can have a public link (outside of Asia, due to high spam volumes), which is also a username.
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Top
Con
Does not support text messaging
You can NOT make it your default text messaging App.
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Top
Pro
Two-step verification
You can set up an additional password to your account, which can be reset by your email. You don't have to use an email if you do not want to. If you lose access to your email or forget your password, you will be able to reset it via text message if your account is over seven days old and will receive it within a week (in case you recover anything before then).
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Top
Pro
Secure
Telegram uses an open source MTProto encryption protocol that provides complete end-to-end encryption for secret chats. To show off their confidence in the protocol the company behind Telegram has organized $200,000 and $300,000 challenges to break the encryption. So far there have been no winners.
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Top
Pro
Saved messages
You can write messages to yourself. You can write some notes, add links, and see everything across all your devices.
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Top
Pro
Cloud chat keys are kept in different jurisdiction
Even though encryption used for cloud-based storage (e.g. Gmail, Facebook, iCloud) may not be as secure as end-to-end encryption or zero-knowledge storage, Telegram does the most that it can by holding keys to chats in different jurisdictions, requiring intergovernmental cooperation to obtain the keys. This is aside from whatever other security measures have been taken, of course.
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Top
Pro
Multiplatform native client apps
There are native desktop, mobile and web client apps, that are optimized for speed and are light on memory usage.
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Top
Pro
Open source client apps
Client apps are open source, making whole service more trustworthy.
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Top
Pro
Unlimited storage
Unlimited number of files can be stored forever on the cloud. You can upload files up to 1.5 GB each.
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Top
Pro
Voice and video messages
You can post voice and video messages if you are too lazy to write text messages.
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Top
Pro
Group Voice Chat
This Discord-like feature adds to the interactivity of the application.
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Top
Pro
Pinned Messages
You can pin messages to the top of groups or supergroups so members will see them when opening the group.
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Top
Pro
Self-destruct messages
Messages in individual chats can be set to self destruct on a timer. They will disappear after the timer expires. Messages in all new chats can be set to self-destruct with a global auto-delete timer in Settings > Privacy and Security > Auto-Delete Messages.
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Top
Pro
Edit or delete messages after sending them
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Top
Pro
Banned in China
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Top
Pro
Save time with inline bots and link previews
Unfortunately, on the desktop videos don't play, but images are viewable without visiting popular websites like imgur and Instagram. You can play YouTube videos and others within the app, so you don't need to embed code or anything. With inline bots, such as @gif, @pic/bing, @vid/YouTube, etc, you can look things up without leaving the client or chat that you're in. Simply type the name and some keywords and wait for the results to load.
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Top
Pro
@mentions
You can ping people to get their attention by @mentioning them.
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Top
Pro
Desktop app handles HiDPI
The desktop app has a built in setting to scale the UI of the app up to 200% which allows for those with 4k monitors/screens to use the app without scaling issues.
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Top
Pro
High quality calls
Uses the latest GPL audio codecs, such as Opus, an adaptative high-quality codec that supersedes AAC at any bitrate.
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Top
Pro
Customer support is within the app
Although it's volunteer based, but still pretty top-notch if available, which it tends to be.
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Top
Pro
Large groups can have channels called 'Topics'
Topics are now available in groups of 100+ members and have a sleek two-column layout and new buttons to quickly navigate. A default topic called General is now in every topic group, holding the group’s service messages and previous message history.
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Top
Pro
Popular in the USA
On SimilarWeb you can see that Telegram is on the top 15 among all communication apps.
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Specs
Platforms:
Web, Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, BSD, Windows phone, UWP
Publisher:
Various companies affiliated with Telegram
File Size:
2048 MB
End-to-end encryption:
Secret chats
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1185
282
Element (formerly Riot)
All
16
Experiences
Pros
15
Specs
Top
Pro
Bridges to other networks
You're not confined within Element's or even Matrix garden, and you don't have to make users of other networks switch to Matrix.
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Top
Pro
Markdown support
Code snippets in chats can be highlighted with Markdown.
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Top
Pro
Simple interface
Element has a very simple interface, adding the ability for more inexperienced users to use it.
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Top
Pro
VOIP and Videoconferencing
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Top
Pro
Supports encryption
Element allows for fully encrypted text, voice, and video chatting.
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Top
Pro
Widgets support
Want to watch that flick at YouTube and discuss it at the same time? Have Grafana graphs stacked above your DevOps team chat? Collaboratively edit Google Docs and chat over without switching applications? This is possible with Element.
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Top
Pro
Decentralized
An open network for secure, decentralized communication.
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Top
Pro
Self-hosting and federated network
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Top
Pro
Libre/open source
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Top
Pro
Search
Search messages in your current room, or all the rooms you're in. Not subject to a message history limit like Slack.
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Top
Pro
Cross platform
Web browser Linux OS X Windows Android iOS
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Top
Pro
Large existing community
With public rooms for many people, and you can create your own and let people from the community join.
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Top
Pro
Etherpad real-time document collaboration
An easy to activate integration that allows multiple authors to edit a document simultaneously.
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Top
Pro
File Sharing
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Top
Pro
Supports text, voice, video
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Specs
Platforms:
MacOS, Windows, Linux, Android, Browser, iOS
License:
Apache License 2.0
Publisher:
New Vector Ltd
End-to-end encryption:
Yes (optional)
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Experiences
Free
792
103
Signal
All
16
Experiences
Pros
10
Cons
5
Specs
Top
Pro
Provides security and privacy
Signal uses an advanced end to end encryption protocol that provides privacy for every message every time.
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Top
Con
Needs access to your phone number and contacts to work
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Top
Pro
Free and open source
Signal is free and open source software, enabling anyone to verify its security by auditing the code. It's the only private messenger that uses open source, peer-reviewed cryptographic protocols to keep your messages safe.
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Top
Con
Single device
Signal can only be registered to one mobile device at a time. But you can link Signal to Signal Desktop.
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Top
Pro
Supports encrypted group chats
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Top
Con
Servers hosted in the US
A security risk due to National Security letters, which require giving up data to the US state, and making it illegal to disclose that.
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Top
Pro
Has a desktop app
Signal Desktop can be used on multiple devices and has most features of the Android version, although it still requires you to register with your phone.
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Top
Con
Unreliable notifications
Sometimes messages won't be received if the Signal app has been closed for a long time or hasn't been opened after booting the device.
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Top
Pro
Supports sharing of various different media types
Signal supports: emoji, pictures, videos, audio, contacts, any location and GIF.
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Top
Con
Poor support
Their E-mail adress for support are not working. They have a Community support on here. Sometimes if you need a support, you need to create an account on their forum and need to share a topic and wait for long time.
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Top
Pro
Note to Self feature
Allows you to "send: messages to yourself and sync to desktop so you can use Signal as a kind of encrypted Pushbullet alternative
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Top
Pro
You can easily view all media exchanged
You can easily view all media shared in the chat without scrolling back to when it was shared.
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Top
Pro
Annonymous Sender (Encrypted)
The sender credentials can be encrypted with the rest of the message, leaving only the recipient address readable by the Signal server. Even if Signal wanted they couldn't see who is talking with who by this mean.
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Top
Pro
Works everywhere in every country
Unlike most messenger apps, Signal works reliably in all countries by securely circumventing internet censorship.
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Top
Pro
Recommended by Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden uses this messenger and recommends it to everyone who is concerned about his privacy.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X
Publisher:
Open Whisper Systems
End-to-end encryption:
Yes
Media:
images / audio / video / files / contacts / GIFs / location
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Experiences
Free
687
181
Zulip
All
9
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
Helps keep track of different conversations
Instead of rooms or channels Zulip is built around topics. This allows you to have multiple conversations at the same time without conversations interfering with each another. It also allows you to reference conversations without clutter.
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Top
Con
No End-to-End Encryption
Not even for private one-to-one messages, let along group chats.
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Top
Pro
Free and open source software
Zulip is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license.
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Top
Con
Takes some getting used to
As most chat software uses the concept of channels or rooms, getting in the habit of splitting each topic off in a separate category can require some getting used to and discipline.
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Top
Pro
Easy asynchronous conversations
Its threaded model helps people working in different timezone's communicate effectively.
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Top
Pro
Apps for every platform
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Top
Pro
Hosted or on-premise
With data export tools so you can migrate.
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Top
Pro
Intuitive interface
I struggled with Slack, never finding the settings I like to adjust. With Zulip never had such issues.
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Specs
Platforms:
Web, iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS, Linux, terminal
License:
Apache 2
Hosting options:
Hosted and Self-hosted
Service integrations:
Yes
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Experiences
Free/Paid
33
5
Jitsi
All
12
Experiences
Pros
7
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Con
Crashes on MacOS Monterey
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Pro
Open-source
Project available on github for anyone to contribute to or use.
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Top
Con
Abandoned Android development
They switched focus to Jitsi Meet client for Android.
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Top
Pro
Cross platform
Mac, Windows & Linux availability.
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Top
Con
Uses Java
Not a native app, takes awhile to load.
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Top
Pro
Video calls
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Top
Con
Gui not as slick or streamlined as competitors
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Top
Pro
OMEMO encryption without plugin
Secure Jabber Texting, better than legacy sms texting.
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Top
Pro
Supports SIP accounts
well implemented SIP SIMPLE (texting), SIP presence, XCAP.
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Top
Pro
Supports XEP-0016 and privacy Lists
Jabber Texting apps without Privacy Lists are WOEFULLY deficient.
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Top
Pro
Encryption out of the box
Encryption for chat, desktop sharing, and web confrencing available.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS, Windows,
Technology:
Java
Videoconferencing:
Yes
Media:
Yes
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86
13
Matrix
All
14
Experiences
Pros
12
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
Built on an open standard
Matrix is an open standard, defining simple HTTP APIs so that devs can easily write their own clients, bots, bridges or servers. You're not locked into a specific set of implementations.
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Top
Con
Keys cannot be checked automatically
You cannot automatically check keys of your recipients. Only manually.
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Top
Pro
Bridges other networks into a single decentralised network
Matrix has bridges to IRC (freenode, moznet, oftc, snoonet etc), Slack, Gitter, Rocket.Chat, XMPP, SMS, SIP and others. The point is to 'matrix' all the different networks out there into one single decentralised network.
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Top
Pro
Has an easy to use client called Riot
Riot.im is the easiest way to use Matrix, with great clients for Web, iOS and Android (and Fdroid).
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Top
Pro
Does not require a centralized server to establish a connection between two users
Matrix is decentralized, there's no one central point that the information goes through and so no once central point of failure or control.
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Pro
Matrix prioritizes direct messaging with people the same as Slack-style groups
Matrix aims to "provide an analogous ecosystem to email - one where you can communicate with pretty much anyone, without caring what app or server they are using" using a neutral identity system.
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Top
Pro
Supports different kinds of communication
Matrix is designed to support Instant Messaging, VoIP/WebRTC signalling (voice and video) and Internet of Things communication.
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Top
Pro
Has an app store for 3rd party integrations & bots
Riot.im includes an app store with integrations for Github, JIRA, Jenkins, Giphy etc - and anyone can add more via Matrix.
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Top
Pro
Offers choice of clients
Which can be found here.
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Top
Pro
Maintains full conversation history
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Top
Pro
Has an active community behind it
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Pro
Can be integrated with existing communication services
Matrix is designed to support Instant Messaging, VoIP/WebRTC signalling and Internet of Things communication and allows cross-communication between those services. Meaning one person could be using IRC and another Slack for IMs, or one person could be using Skype and another Google Hangouts for videoconferencing.
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Top
Pro
End-to-end encryption
Matrix features end-to-end encrypted chats which are syncronized accross all your devices. E2E is implemented in the matrix-js-sdk library and Riot.im client.
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Specs
Platforms:
Mac/Windows/Linux/Android/Browser/iOS/and more
Price:
FREE
VoIP:
Yes
Open source:
Yes
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46
Skype
All
21
Experiences
Pros
10
Cons
10
Specs
Top
Con
Plagued by bugs on all platforms
Crashes and other bugs are prevalent on Android, Windows and other platforms.
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Top
Pro
Easily connect with others due to how popular the service is
There's a good chance that whoever you're trying to reach has Skype already set up and familiar with it, avoiding the hassle of installing and getting to know new software.
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Top
Con
Subpar video quality with more than 5 users
Skype has significant problems with multiple users and video quality. Skype recommends that a max of 5 users group chat as video quality is severely affected. Even webcams tested with other chat services showed lower quality when used with Skype.
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Top
Pro
Screen sharing
You can show your whole desktop, a select part of the screen or a specific window over Skype.
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Top
Con
Not a feasible alternative as a professional team chat
Missing key feature such as centralized mgmt, centralized billing, data retention policies, ...
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Top
Pro
Cross-platform
There's software for Windows, Mac & Linux and apps are available on iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone.
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Top
Con
Poor quality when screensharing
It is not possible to manually set resolution or bitrate, and Skype often defaults to a resolution so low that text is unreadable. It is also not possible to transfer control over mouse and keyboard.
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Top
Pro
Group video for free
You can hold video calls with up to 10 people.
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Top
Con
Slow filesharing speed
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Top
Pro
Available on Linux
A stripped down, minimalist version of Skype is available for Linux.
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Top
Con
Owned by Microsoft
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Top
Pro
File sharing
Skype allows you to send any files (MP3s, images, text, etc.) by simply dragging and dropping then in the chat window making it simple to share things with colleagues.
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Top
Con
Obnoxiously large ads
Ads take up over 25% of the usable space.
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Top
Pro
Cheap fixed phone number
Starting at $5/mo you can get a Skype number.
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Top
Con
Poor Linux support
The version available for linux users is quite outdated, and does not support some of the newer functionality, such as the free group video calling and screen sharing.
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Top
Pro
Send SMS and make regular calls
With Skype Credit bought or a subscription, you can send SMS and make direct calls.
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Top
Con
Requires both ends to be online (if neither end is using a cloud-enabled device)
Messages are sent and received only when both ends are online, if neither end is using a cloud-enabled device. In this case, if you are online 9-17 and your recipient is online 18-3, messages will never be delivered.
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Top
Pro
Group chat with archive / records
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Con
MIcrosoft (Skype's owner) actively assists eavesdroppers
On the other hand, if you lose your copy of one of your conversations, you may be able to get a copy of it from your government with a little bit of luck and a public records request.
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Top
Pro
Powerful 1:1 chat and also group chat
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Specs
Platforms:
iOS, Android, WP, OSX, Windows, Linux, Web. Blackberry. Chrome OS. BSD, iPadOs
Publisher:
Skype
File Size:
Varies with device
Required Android Version:
6.0
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119
161
Mattermost
All
16
Experiences
Pros
9
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Pro
Can be self-hosted
You don't need to rely on someone else's servers, you can host Mattermost on your own server.
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Top
Con
No easy End-to-End Encryption setup
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Top
Pro
One-line Docker install
With Docker set up, you can install Mattermost with the following command: docker run --name mattermost-dev -d --publish 8065:80 mattermost/platform For other cases, installation instructions can be found here.
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Top
Con
Features not available out of the box
Difficult to setup the many features it offers. The easy docker installation is for the application only, not it's feature sets. Requires a license for full-set of features.
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Top
Pro
Similar to Slack
Almost all features of Slack are available in Mattermost.
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Con
Centralized
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Pro
Free - OpenSource
You can download and use it as free for self-hosted server.
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Top
Con
Poorly made iOS app
Built natively using React it suffers from unresponsiveness, input lag, and sometimes broken services. Coupled with a bad user experience.
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Top
Pro
Mobile apps for android and iOS
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Top
Con
Poorly made Android app
The Android application is just a badly wrapped web-view which does not perform well and has no form of offline caching whatsoever.
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Top
Pro
You can change theme
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Top
Con
Self-Hosted
This doesn't work for every type of company. Mainly great for those concerned with privacy, security, compliance and control of your data/information.
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Top
Pro
Desktop app for MacOS, Linux and Windows
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Top
Pro
Browser notifications
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Top
Pro
Mark-Down support
Yes, it supports markdown.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, Linux
License:
MIT
Hosting options:
Self-hosted
Service integrations:
Yes - Atlassian, Webhooks, Chatbots, Extensions
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Experiences
Free / paid
113
34
Brosix Instant Messenger
All
5
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Secure communication
Brosix uses advanced 256-bit P2P encryption that secures all of the communication channels.
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Top
Con
Lack of features on the web client
The web-client of Brosix has only chat feature included.
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Top
Pro
Functionality
Brosix has a lot of features that contribute to successful remote team communication. Some of them include: text, video and voice chat, screen-sharing, screen-shot capture, unlimited file transfer, etc.
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Top
Con
Lack of features on the web client
The web-client of Brosix has only chat feature included.
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Top
Pro
Brosix is an affordable option for all types of businesses
With prices starting from $1.70 per user per month, you can cut the costs on team communication a lot.
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$1.70
5
0
WhatsApp
All
15
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
8
Specs
Top
Pro
Straightforward interface
The interface is very simple, fast and easy to use. You can start using it as soon as the app has been downloaded - it does not require setting anything up or registering. You can communicate with anyone in your contacts list that also uses WhatsApp. Includes useful features like seeing when a contact is currently available or typing.
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Top
Con
Shares meta data with Facebook
WhatsApp shares your messaging meta data with Facebook if you do not opt-out in the settings. If you use the same phone number for WhatsApp and Facebook, the profiles can easily be linked. See https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/26000016
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Top
Pro
Widely used
WhatsApp reported 1.5 billion users in 2018. Your friends are most likely already using WhatsApp, so it's easy to get setup.
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Top
Con
Tied to carrier phone number
WhatsApp cannot be used by people without a smart phone with an active cell plan. If your phone is lost or damaged, or if your phone number changes, you cannot get messages sent by friends without them updating your phone number. You cannot send message to them until you are able to get SMS messages at your phone number.
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Top
Pro
Effortlessly builds your contacts by using your phone number as identification
WhatsApp will automatically find all of your contacts currently using Whatsapp and add them to your contacts. This makes it really easy to setup and given that it's the most popular messaging app it's likely that a lot of your contacts are already using it.
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Top
Con
Proprietary
Not open source.
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Top
Pro
Message mirroring on web app
WhatsApp can be used from the desktop via Chrome, Firefox and Opera browsers. Accessing it requires using the Android app to scan the QR code that's presented on web.whatsapp.com.
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Top
Con
Hard to migrate history cross platform
Migrating your chat history from Android to iOS or the other way around is not so simple. In some cases it requires a 3rd party app and in some the only way is to migrate specific chats one by one.
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Top
Pro
Signal protocol
Whatsapp uses the state-of-the-art Signal protocol that ensure strong end-to-end encryption.
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Top
Con
Web interface uses message mirroring
To use your computer to send messages your phone must be on with a consistent data connection.
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Top
Pro
One-on-one texts can be encrypted
WhatsApp has implemented end to end encryption for messages sent on it's service. Even WhatsApp has no way to read a users messages.
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Top
Con
Single device
You cannot use the same WhatsApp account on multiple devices (e.g. a tablet, a PC and a cellphone). The account is tied to the device with the specific cellphone number. Chat history is deleted when you sign in to a new account, unless you have created a backup.
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Top
Con
No cloud sync
Messages are not stored on WhatsApp server for privacy and security reasons.
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Top
Con
Limitation on shareable file sizes
WhatsApp now allows users to share files of any type, but there is still a 16 MB size limit.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android, iOS, Web, Mac, Windows, Windows Phone
Publisher:
WhatsApp Inc.
File Size:
100 MB
Required Android Version:
2.3.3 or above
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Experiences
Free
228
192
Brosix
All
8
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Excellent solution for companies who would like to encrypt their office communication
Brosix uses strong 256-bit encryption that secures ALL communication channels.
See More
Top
Con
Not enough Admin controls
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Top
Pro
Brosix is available on all platforms
This includes Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, Mac.
See More
Top
Con
Poor mobile version
The mobile version of the application contains only a few of the features that the Desktop client has.
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Top
Pro
Easy to use
Brosix IM facilitates the internal communication and increases office productivity.
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Top
Pro
Affordable
For $1.70 per user per month voice & video chat, screen-sharing sessions, send unlimited files regardless of the size, etc.
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Top
Pro
Great admin tools
The Enterprise version of Brosix allows the Administrator to manage their own and unique network. The Admin has also full-control over the archives of all chats within the network.
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Top
Pro
Easy to use
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Experiences
2.10
8
2
Join.me
All
10
Experiences
Pros
7
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
Joining a meeting is straightforward
To join you need only enter a 9-digit code on the join.me website, that you get from the person sharing.
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Top
Con
No Linux support
Only available on Windows and OSX.
See More
Top
Pro
Easy to set up
To start sharing, download and run a file from join.me. You'll be given a 9-digit code to share with anyone you wan't to be able to access your screen.
See More
Top
Con
Bought out by Logmein
Logmein is notorious for buying out small companies and disregarding the wants and needs of the customer base of the newly bought-out company.
See More
Top
Pro
Collaborative
You can give others the ability to control your screen.
See More
Top
Pro
Up to 10 participants
10 people can view your screen.
See More
Top
Pro
File sharing
Join.me allows for easy file transfers among participants.
See More
Top
Pro
Mobile support
Join.me supports iOS, Android and Kindle.
See More
Top
Pro
Multi-monitor support
Works well with multiple monitors.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, iOS, Android
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Experiences
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38
9
Mumble
All
21
Experiences
Pros
17
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Pro
Code available to anyone to inspect or use, no spy- or adware
Mumble is available as a free download and source code is available on GitHub.
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Top
Con
A bit more difficult to set up than similar solutions
The process of generating and/or acquiring certificates can be time-consuming and a bit more complex than setting up a username/password authentication that's found in other clients. Similarly, setting up a server that includes configuring user permission system requires advanced technical knowledge.
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Top
Pro
Free and open-source server software
The server software Murmur is licensed under a free and open-source BSD-style license.
See More
Top
Con
Disconnect issues
Can have occasions of disconnect or users keep getting booted.
See More
Top
Pro
Can be used on a gamers preferred platform
Available on Windows, Linux, OS X, Android and iOS which allows for the user to choose what operating system works for them and still be able to use Mumble.
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Top
Con
Relatively poor voice quality
While Mumble's voice quality is fine, and you can understand what's being said, there is a noticeable difference between it and many other platforms.
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Top
Pro
Excellent voice quality
Since version 1.2.4, Mumble uses an audio codec named Opus that's specifically developed to provide low-latency voice communication over Internet. This means that there is no delay time, while audio still comes out clear.
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Top
Pro
Low latency and resource usage
Dedicated servers and low overhead allows Mumble to have the least delay between users speaking and others hearing their speech, which can be very important for fast paced games.
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Top
Pro
Push-to-Talk
A push-to-talk key allows you to only transmit audio when you want it. Others won't hear you chewing or your mom entering the room unless you want to.
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Top
Pro
Free to download and use as a client
Mumble is completely free, even hosting your own server.
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Top
Pro
Use of certificates offers more security and easy people management
Mumble uses certificates for user identification. A certificate can be generated by the user himself or issued by a third-party organization with organization certificates having 2 classes. A self-generated certificate is not tied to anything, a Class 1 certificate is tied to an e-mail address and a Class 2 certificate requires proof of identity. Depending on the server a different level of certification might be required.
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Top
Pro
Server works on Raspberry Pi
Mumble server side is easy to setup and works smooth even on Raspberry Pi, which is pretty short on resources.
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Top
Pro
Easily overlay over game
An in-game overlay can be enabled to show users in the channel or users talking. Overlay can be disabled completely or on a per-game basis by going to Settings->Overlay. This allows for users to see their chat but not obstruct the game they are playing.
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Top
Pro
Sub-channels
By default, only users in the same channel can hear each other. Channels can be nested to better organize yourself according to what you want to be talking about.
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Top
Pro
Secure & encrypted
This encryption is mandatory and cannot be disabled. The so-called control channel, which transports your chat messages and other non-time critical information, is encrypted with TLS using 256 bit AES-SHA. The voice channel carrying speech and positional audio is encrypted with OCB-AES 128 bit.
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Top
Pro
Good audio normalization
Mumble includes great automatic volume adjustment functionality that can be used to prevent big volume changes while still allowing good communication.
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Top
Pro
Positional audio
Mumble supports positional audio for over 50 games, including versions of Call of Duty, Battlefield and Counter-Strike. This allows you to hear the audio from the direction of the player speaking, making gameplay more immersive and giving competitive players an edge. You can find a full list of supported games here.
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Top
Pro
Customizable UI
Version 1.3 introduced skins, allowing you to customize your UI, either on your own (tutorial here) or by using one of the skins found here.
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Top
Pro
Portable version on PortableApps
See More
Top
Pro
Server can be put on alternative firmware wireless routers
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Specs
End-to-end encryption:
Yes
Audio recording:
Yes
Secure:
Yes
Requires a Server:
Yes
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Experiences
Free
644
94
Rocket.Chat
All
20
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
13
Specs
Top
Pro
Free and open source
Rocket.Chat is available for free. It's licensed under the MIT license with source code available on GitHub.
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Top
Con
Developer support is non-existent
Can't even create a clean Ubuntu VM with a working developer install. Unresolved dependencies; fails to build. Docs are terrible; actual devs don't respond to questions; error messages are near-opaque. DO NOT RECOMMEND.
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Top
Pro
Native apps for all major desktop and mobile platforms
Rocket.Chat has native apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.
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Top
Con
Web client loses images
In chat rooms with images, before very long, images start to become empty boxes. Useless to pass around visual information
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Top
Pro
Supports a wide variety of authentication methods
In addition to the usual email / username + password combination, Rocket.Chat supports authenticating via Facebook, Github, Gitlab, Google, Linkedin, Meteor and Twitter accounts.
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Top
Con
No theme customization
See More
Top
Pro
Understands markdown better than Slack does.
Links work properly, for instance, with square brackets followed by parentheses.
See More
Top
Con
No chat audit for enterprise
See More
Top
Pro
Very active and helpful community
See More
Top
Con
Poor security implementations / protocols
See More
Top
Pro
Video conferencing support
Rocket.Chat supports video calls.
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Top
Con
Centralized
See More
Top
Con
iOS app is poorly made
The iOS application is not native, being just a browser container. This means that the UX is quite poor, slow, buttons unresponsive. At this moment they do not provide a decent experience.
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Top
Con
Android app is poorly made
The Android application is just a badly wrapped web-view which does not perform well and has no form of offline caching whatsoever.
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Top
Con
Privacy settings are absent
Privacy settings for the server are absent, for instance, you don't have the ability to disable registrations, there's no way to control access to the chat.
See More
Top
Con
Features not available out of the box
See More
Top
Con
No web browser support
See More
Top
Con
Email required for registration
See More
Top
Con
No way to block new registrations
Without the ability to disable registrations, there's no way to control access to the chat.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Web iOS Android OSX Windows Linux
License:
M.I.T.
Hosting options:
On premises & On Rocket.Chat
Videoconferencing:
Yes
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Experiences
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151
31
Pidgin
All
8
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
Support for a wide range of additional chat services
Pidgin not only supports IRC, it also supports plenty of other services such as AIM, Google Talk, MSN, ICQ and plenty of others. This way, you can have all of your conversations in the same app and won't have to deal with multiple chat windows being open.
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Top
Con
Miserable IRC font controls (as of 2.13.0.17)
Does its best to avoid putting sensible default font controls in any place where you can get to it. And when it does grudgingly change it, based on system preferences (not local preferences), it does so in an inconsistent and unpredictable fashion.
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Top
Pro
Free and open source
Pidgin and its code is completely free and open source. Pidgin has no ads and no features behind a paywall.
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Top
Con
No native VoIP support
While there are plugins there is no built in support for VoIP in Pidgin which is time consuming to implement instead of being baked in from the jump.
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Top
Pro
Cross platform
The Pidgin instant messaging client is cross platform, working on Linux, Windows and OSX.
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Top
Pro
Convenient notification features
Like other quality IRC clients, Pidgin features notifications that the user can set in order to have a variety of things happen when the users is mentioned, such as an audio cue or changing the system tray icon.
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Top
Pro
Highly customisable with plugins
Pidgin not only has a large plugin library built-in, but also an array of third party plugins for a variety of functions.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux
License:
GPL
Media:
Video send/receive, Images
Message history:
Optional
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Experiences
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297
81
Line
All
6
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Large celebrity and public figure usage rate
The caveat is that they are in Japan, but the app is commonly used to 'follow' public figures.
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Top
Con
Account is locked to the Phone Number & Device
The entire account is locked to the phone number, which cannot be changed. If the application is installed on a new device with the same phone number, the previous account data will be wiped.
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Top
Pro
Enormous, constantly updated stamp collection
Since many brands use stamps for promotional purposes, everything from movies to food brands to Taylor Swift have released stamp collections.
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Top
Con
Users have been concentrated in Japan
Of the 360+ million registered users, the top country is Japan (50 million). Thailand and Indonesia are 2nd and 3rd with 33 and 30 million, respectively, with very small market penetration in the US (10 million, 11th place).
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Top
Pro
Photo filter and editing capabilities
Users have in-app editing tools, as well as Line's separate camera application, which has additional tools.
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Top
Pro
Integrated social network
Similar to Facebook's timeline.
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23
9
Stride (previously HipChat)
All
25
Experiences
Pros
16
Cons
8
Specs
Top
Con
Will be discontinued Feb 2019
Slack acquired Stride / Hip Chat. Both Stride and Hip Chat will cease to exist. Sad since they were quite usable.
See More
Top
Pro
Available on Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
You can access HipChat from pretty much every common platform. HipChat even allows chatting via SMS.
See More
Top
Con
Prioprietary (non-free/libre)
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Top
Pro
Powerful @mentions
You can ping people to get their attention even if they are not online by @mentioning them. Depending on how the person has set their account up it can be by notifications via in-app sounds, visual alerts, and even email, SMS, or mobile app push notifications.
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Top
Con
Reliability of service has been weak
The reliability of the hosted HipChat service, particularly in the early days of version 4.x, has not been a strong suit.
See More
Top
Pro
Huge list of integrations
Including Asana, Github, Zendesk, WordPress, MongoDB, TeamCity, JIRA, Confluence, PowerShell and more that 40 others.
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Top
Con
Free plan has limited storage
Free plan comes with 5GB of storage, where as paid plan has "Unlimited".
See More
Top
Pro
Cheap
Free with unlimited users, $2/user/month for voice + video calls, screencasts, full history retention and management. (Even enterprise feature like SAML)
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Top
Con
Only one-on-one video calls in free version
There is no option for multi-user conference calls.
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Top
Pro
Simple, easy to use
An intuitive, easy to overview interface listing both online and offline users.
See More
Top
Con
No emoji
There's no emoji support. Instead there are some strange custom emoticons which only make sense for people steeped in internet subculture and never get updated.
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Top
Pro
Embeds files
Things like photos get automatically embedded in the chat thread once you upload them.
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Top
Con
API calls are limited even on paid plan to 500 calls in 5min by default
This will force you to contact them when you need more calls.
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Top
Pro
Guest access
You can invite people to join conversations even if they don't have a HipChat account. HipChat will generate a link to share and the guest will only need to enter their name to join the conversation.
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Top
Con
Non-synced notifications
Messages read on one client don't sync their status to another client.
See More
Top
Pro
Desktop client
HipChat has an optional desktop client powered by Adobe AIR.
See More
Top
Pro
Good audio and video support
HipChat audio and video works on mobile platforms and web browsers.
See More
Top
Pro
"Rooms" for persistent group chat
Participate and keep tabs on ongoing discussions on particular topics or amongst certain groups of people.
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Top
Pro
Self-Hosting available
If you are worried about third-parties getting access to your data you should consider self-hosting. With self-hosting you are in control over where your data is stored, who has access to it. You will also not be vulnerable to exploits of a third-party provider.
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Top
Pro
Plentiful GIFs and custom Emoticons
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Top
Pro
Syntax coloring
Pasted code can be colored based on syntax.
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Top
Pro
Will be updated to have more functions in the future
A big company with experience will bring in more options like Google Apps One Time Login.
See More
Top
Pro
Reliability has been great
See More
Top
Pro
Powerful command system
E.g. part, away, all, here etc.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Web iOS Android OSX Windows Linux
Hosting options:
Hosted & self-hosted
Service integrations:
Yes
Screensharing:
Yes
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Experiences
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100
34
Viber
All
21
Experiences
Pros
14
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Con
The company evades U. S. tax
The company uses the common practice of tax haven addresses in order to avoid paying US taxes despite being registered in Delaware.
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Top
Pro
Desktop apps allow texting, calling and enables transferring calls between devices
Viber has native apps for both Windows and Mac that allow you to send and receive messages from your desktop. You can also use the desktop to make and receive calls. Synchronizes between all devices you are using Viber on. Allows transferring calls between devices.
See More
Top
Con
Proprietary Software
Not Open Source.
See More
Top
Pro
Supports voice calls
Viber has really well implemented voice tech. It has comparable quality to Skype and you can even tranfer calls from your phone to your desktop seamlessly.
See More
Top
Con
No web client
You cannot login from the web to send and receive messages.
See More
Top
Pro
Completely free
Viber uses data connection and the app is free.
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Top
Con
Constantly on
Need apps like Greenify to stop it from being constantly on and active, even if you don't use it.
See More
Top
Pro
Clean interface
The interface is simple, functional and intuitive.
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Top
Con
Constant reminders of messages
If you don't check your messages (say your in a group chat and simply don't check all of them), it will flood your notifications.
See More
Top
Pro
See who of your contacts is using Viber quickly
Viber is tied to your phone number so it can quickly see who else in your contacts list is using the application.
See More
Top
Con
Doesn't sync well
Sync awfully between Phone and PC clients.
See More
Top
Pro
Android Wear support
Viber includes Android Wear support on Android 4.3 or higher and Viber 5.3 or higher.
See More
Top
Pro
Same protocol as used in Signal
Viber's protocol uses the same concepts of the "double ratchet" protocol used in Open Whisper Systems Signal application.
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Top
Pro
Public chats
It's possible to be a fly on the wall on other group or one-to-one chats that have been opened up to the public. These public chats are often promotional chats with celebrities.
See More
Top
Pro
Supports video calling over WiFi and data.
Can call friends using voice or video options.
See More
Top
Pro
Combines cellular and data messaging
This has an advantage in that if you text someone who uses Viber it will be free, if not it will just revert to SMS. This means you can replace your standard messaging app with Viber as well.
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Top
Pro
Keys only on device
Starting with Viber 6.0 the encryption keys are stored only on the clients themselves, not even Viber itself has access to them.
See More
Top
Pro
No need to create an account or add contacts
One of the best things about Viber is how it handles setup and sending messages. Viber uses your existing number as your ID, so you don't need to create a separate Viber account.
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Top
Pro
Supports 200 person group chat
Viber allows creating groups of up to 200 people on the Android version of Viber. It also has a cool "smart notifications" feature to prevent being overwhelmed with notifications if a lot of people are active in a chat group.
See More
Top
Pro
Insight and well documented encryption
Viber has made a documentation available, explaining in great details their encryption system and giving good insight on how it works.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Android / iOS / WP / BB / Symbian / Windows / OSX / Linux
Publisher:
Viber Media S.a r.l.
File Size:
37M
Required Android Version:
2.3 and up
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Experiences
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129
56
Pulse
All
9
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
4
Top
Pro
Syncs with LinkedIn to deliver content from chanels you follow and people in your network
Unlike other readers, Pulse allows users to follow LinkedIn influencers on top of blogs and publications
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Top
Con
Forces users to login with LinkedIn
Many users don't want or need a LinkedIn account. In order to use Pulse, they must create a LinkedIn account. This has made many people unhappy because it blurs the line between their personal and professional lives.
See More
Top
Pro
Allows integration with more social feeds than similar apps
In addition to letting you pull from Facebook and Twitter, Pulse lets users add feeds from YouTube and Digg.com.
See More
Top
Con
More bulky and less accessible after most recent update
Pulse's reviews are littered with unhappy users after their most recent update. Many users are reporting that the new layout is too busy or too bulky.
See More
Top
Pro
Syncs with Pocket, Evernote, Instapaper, and Readability
What you follow and save on Pulse can become available on Pocket, Evernote, Instapaper, and Readability.
See More
Top
Con
Unstable
Some users have reported that Pulse has started to crash after its most recent update.
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Top
Pro
Works without internet
When connected to WiFi, pulse downloads articles so you can read them when you are on the go.
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Top
Con
Easy to accidently exit from
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Top
Pro
Fits more on the screen than similar readers
With Pulse, every pixel on the screen seems to be utilized. Depending on your preferences, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. While some users want a screen packed full of information, others have found it overwhelming.
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Experiences
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6
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