Introducing
The Slant team built an AI & it’s awesome
Find the best product instantly
Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to Safari
Try it now
4.7 star rating
0
What is the best alternative to LinkSpace?
Ad
Ad
Mastodon
All
7
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
Social publishing
Private options.
See More
Top
Con
Lacks OMEMO encryption
The de facto standard for Jabber Texting [xmpp].
See More
Top
Pro
Actively developed
See More
Top
Pro
Jabber Texting
xmpp
See More
Top
Pro
Open Standard
See More
Top
Pro
Open Source
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Web, IOS, Android
Type:
Federated
Hide
See All
Experiences
Get it
here
8
1
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.
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
Free of cost
The application is available free of cost.
See More
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.
See More
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.
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
Media messaging
Videos, gifs, images, geolocation, and documents.
See More
Top
Con
"Secret Chat" feature is not available for desktop client
Secret chats with end to end encryption are only available on mobile apps.
See More
Top
Pro
Channels for one way broadcasting
Broadcasting channels suitable for announcing things.
See More
Top
Con
No source code sintax highlighting
Telegram does not have source code syntax highlighting, making it difficult to share code snippets.
See More
Top
Pro
Beautiful UI
Very customizable with a lot of clean looking options.
See More
Top
Con
Does not work for visually impaired
Doesn't work for visually impaired.
See More
Top
Pro
Possible to send photos and videos without compression
See More
Top
Con
Does not support spherical 360° photos
Spherical 360° photos becoming more popular these days, but Telegram does not support such format.
See More
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.
See More
Top
Con
Does not support text messaging
You can NOT make it your default text messaging App.
See More
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).
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
Saved messages
You can write messages to yourself. You can write some notes, add links, and see everything across all your devices.
See More
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.
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
Open source client apps
Client apps are open source, making whole service more trustworthy.
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
Voice and video messages
You can post voice and video messages if you are too lazy to write text messages.
See More
Top
Pro
Group Voice Chat
This Discord-like feature adds to the interactivity of the application.
See More
Top
Pro
Pinned Messages
You can pin messages to the top of groups or supergroups so members will see them when opening the group.
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
Edit or delete messages after sending them
See More
Top
Pro
Banned in China
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
@mentions
You can ping people to get their attention by @mentioning them.
See More
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.
See More
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.
See More
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.
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
Popular in the USA
On SimilarWeb you can see that Telegram is on the top 15 among all communication apps.
See More
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
See All Specs
Hide
See All
Experiences
Get it
here
1185
282
Instagram
All
5
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Good platform for exposure
Instagram is the photo sharing app with the most users.
See More
Top
Con
Awkward framing
Photos shot in Instagram must be in a square format. Uploaded photos must be cropped to be square shaped.
See More
Top
Pro
Great photo filters
Instagram's adjustable filters can completely change the way a photo looks.
See More
Top
Con
Filled with children
Instagram is extremely popular with middle school and high school kids.
See More
Top
Pro
Tons of editing tools
Instagram lets users adjust brightness, temperature, saturation, highlights, shadows, and sharpening.
See More
Hide
Get it
here
12
23
Facebook
All
5
Experiences
Pros
1
Cons
4
Top
Con
Self-censored
In a way because social platforms show you what seems most relevant to you, you may end up not seeing things that are important; a kind of self-censoring.
See More
Top
Pro
Anyone can post
See More
Top
Con
Known cases of censoring
Facebook had cases of censoring content, pro Conservative US party for example.
See More
Top
Con
Actively repress 1st amendment rights of americans despite being an american company
Violations of our highest laws is not acceptable behavior.
See More
Top
Con
Will censor and ban you if you post anything that goes against government approved narrative
Even if you are posting truth and facts.
See More
Hide
Get it
here
15
57
Reddit
All
3
Experiences
Pros
2
Cons
1
Top
Pro
"For hire" posts get a lot of attention
Where many of the current remote job boards are specifically for employees looking to apply to positions, reddit is a good place to post "for hire" ads and allow the employers to contact you.
See More
Top
Con
Not specifically a job board
Reddit is not specifically a job board, so may lack some of the features you're looking for (such as a strong search feature).
See More
Top
Pro
Variety of freelance and salaried positions
There is a good variety of job types so you're able to find what fits your schedule and lifestyle best.
See More
Hide
Get it
here
64
10
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.
See More
Top
Con
Keys cannot be checked automatically
You cannot automatically check keys of your recipients. Only manually.
See More
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.
See More
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).
See More
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.
See More
Top
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.
See More
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.
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
Offers choice of clients
Which can be found here.
See More
Top
Pro
Maintains full conversation history
See More
Top
Pro
Has an active community behind it
See More
Top
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.
See More
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.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Mac/Windows/Linux/Android/Browser/iOS/and more
Price:
FREE
VoIP:
Yes
Open source:
Yes
See All Specs
Hide
See All
Experiences
Get it
here
328
46
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.
See More
Top
Con
Needs access to your phone number and contacts to work
See More
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.
See More
Top
Con
Single device
Signal can only be registered to one mobile device at a time. But you can link Signal to Signal Desktop.
See More
Top
Pro
Supports encrypted group chats
See More
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.
See More
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.
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
Supports sharing of various different media types
Signal supports: emoji, pictures, videos, audio, contacts, any location and GIF.
See More
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.
See More
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
See More
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.
See More
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.
See More
Top
Pro
Works everywhere in every country
Unlike most messenger apps, Signal works reliably in all countries by securely circumventing internet censorship.
See More
Top
Pro
Recommended by Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden uses this messenger and recommends it to everyone who is concerned about his privacy.
See More
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
See All Specs
Hide
See All
Experiences
Free
687
181
IRC
All
18
Experiences
Pros
11
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Con
Complex and not user friendly
See More
Top
Pro
Open protocol
The IRC protocol is public and open, it is mature and stable, and has been implemented in numerous projects. This means that it can be used freely, for both open-source and commercial projects.
See More
Top
Con
Assumes some level of prior knowledge
The features are not discoverable the way they are in other apps and services.
See More
Top
Pro
Versatile
IRC offers choice. Choice in clients (mobile, desktop, web), in scripts those clients run, in servers and features those servers have. You can even set up your own server.
See More
Top
Con
You have to "idle" to see what's going on
You will see a blank chat screen at first because there is no recent history kept on servers.
See More
Top
Pro
Less distracting
Compared to other common solutions, IRC can be ignored when you are occupied doing something else. Most clients don't pester you with sounds or distracting visuals.
See More
Top
Con
Can be addictive
See More
Top
Pro
Mentions
Every notable IRC client supports mentions - notifying you when your name is mentioned in the chat. The mentions in IRC are comparably better than Discord. Mentions used in Discord are easily abused; this doesn't happen in IRC. If someone's talking about you, you get a notification in IRC. This doesn't happen in something like Discord.
See More
Top
Con
Poor multimedia support
Sending anything besides text is not easy or intuitive and depends on the client.
See More
Top
Pro
Hundreds of avaliable clients
IRC has been around since 1988, so there is a ton of existing software to work with it. Everything from clients, to chat bots, to bouncers is already built.
See More
Top
Con
Advanced functionality is client-dependant
See More
Top
Pro
IRC networks are not centralized
You can choose your favorite server for an IRC network.
See More
Top
Pro
No account necessary
No need to sign up for access, confirm your e-mail address. Just choose a nickname and you're done.
See More
Top
Pro
User-friendly
IRC is user friendly if you use something like hexchat or kiwi webchat.
See More
Top
Pro
DCC
Direct Client-to-Client allows users to share files in a similar way to torrenting.
See More
Top
Pro
Great historic importance
Twitter hashtags came from IRC channel names.
See More
Top
Pro
Upcoming IRCv3 will provide missing features
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Web iOS Android WP OSX Windows Linux
Hosting options:
Hosted & self-hosted
Service integrations:
No
Screensharing:
No
See All Specs
Hide
See All
Experiences
55
21
Lemmy
All
10
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
4
Top
Pro
Federated
Anyone can self-host the software on their own server. Users can join an instance they like. You can view and comment on other servers (instances) as long as the instance you are on hasn't blocked the other instance.
See More
Top
Con
Pro-CCP, Chinese censorship and concentration camp deniers
See More
Top
Pro
Simple and fast interface
See More
Top
Con
Complicated to use
Some find it quite difficult to use. As each instance is seperate, it take a lot to get used to using it.
See More
Top
Pro
Open-source
See More
Top
Con
Slow and unreliable
See More
Top
Pro
Shows both number of upvotes and number of downvotes, not just total
If someone has some unpopular opinion you can still see some people upvoted it and therefore appreciated it (so you can decide to read it).
See More
Top
Con
A community of leftist privacy and FOSS enthusiasts, run by Lemmy’s developers
Politically biased platform, that they seem to be proud of.
See More
Top
Pro
Problematic instances can be blocked
If the moderation of a certain instance is not good, other instances can block it.
See More
Top
Pro
A rich ecosystem of third party clients and software
See the awesome lemmy github repo.
See More
Hide
See All
Experiences
Free
64
37
Snapchat
All
6
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Con
Security concerns
In 2013, Snapchat was hacked. As a result phone numbers and usernames of 4.6 million users were published online. That happened after concerns were raised by a security firm weeks before that Snapchat dismissed. Other security concerns were pointed out to Snapchat throughout 2014 including ways that the service could be used for DDOS attacks and how their anti-robot measures can be circumvented. Snapchat has since implemented two-factor authentication.
See More
Top
Pro
Allows sharing photos, videos and texts that self-destruct
All Snapchat communications disappear after they've been viewed. It creates more interesting conversation when you don't have to worry about consequences as much. Additionally you can doodle on photos.
See More
Top
Con
Non-intuitive UI
The UI space is well used but you'll likely miss a few messages until you understand of the UI works; it's not like the average mobile apps.
See More
Top
Pro
Includes news
Snapchat includes a Discover page (accessed by two swipes from the right side) where curated list of news and entertainment outlets can put up news from their sites.
See More
Top
Pro
Does not get in the way of what it's designed to do
Snapchat is first and foremost a way to share photos so the first thing that the app presents the user with is the camera enabled and ready to take photos. Once photos or videos are taken, it's possible to caption them or draw on them.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Android / iOS
Publisher:
Snapchat Inc
File Size:
17M
Required Android Version:
4.0 and up
See All Specs
Hide
Get it
here
14
11
Built By the Slant team
Find the best product instantly.
4.7 star rating
Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to Safari
Try it now - it's free
{}
undefined
url next
price drop