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What are the best cross platform instant messaging apps?

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Element (formerly Riot) vs Signal vs Telegram

 vs Wire vs Rocket.Chat vs Briar vs Rumble Talk vs Discord vs Slack vs Line vs Brosix Instant Messenger vs Google Hangouts vs WhatsApp vs SimpleX Chat vs Signal Private Messenger

Specs

Platforms

MacOS, Windows, Linux, Android, Browser, iOS

Audio recording

Yes

Publisher

New Vector Ltd

End-to-end encryption

Yes (optional)

Media

All File Types

VoIP

Yes

Service integrations

Yes

Message history

Yes

License

Apache License 2.0

File Sharing

Yes

DIY integrations

-

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

-

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X

Audio recording

Yes

Publisher

Open Whisper Systems

End-to-end encryption

Yes

Media

images / audio / video / files / contacts / GIFs / location

VoIP

Yes

Service integrations

-

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

Yes

Decentralized

No

Proprietary Dependencies

Yes

Videoconferencing

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

-

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

Web, Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, BSD, Windows phone, UWP

Audio recording

Yes

Publisher

Various companies affiliated with Telegram

End-to-end encryption

Secret chats

Media

images / video / audio / GIFs / stickers / PiP Video / Videomessages

VoIP

Yes

Service integrations

Through bots

Message history

Yes

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

Yes

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

Yes

Groups

≤ 100,000

Video recording

Yes

File Size

2048 MB

Locationsharing

Live

Multidevice

Cloud

Unit Testing

Yes

Open source

Most clients

In-app purchases

To pay 3rd parties

Usernames

yes

Message deletion

Mutual/timed

Open source backend

no

Audio/video streaming

Only from some clients

Cloud sync

Yes

Proxy support

yes

Open clients API

yes

Multiplatform

Yes

Screensharing

-

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

Web iOS Android OSX Windows Linux

Audio recording

No

Publisher

Wire Swiss GmbH

End-to-end encryption

Yes

Media

images / video / audio / GIFs

VoIP

Yes

Service integrations

No

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

No

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

No

Groups

≤128

Video recording

No

File Size

25M

Locationsharing

Yes (iOS, Android)

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

Yes

Required Android Version

4.2 and up

Messaging systems

Data

In-App Purchases

None

Server stored messages

Transitory

Cloud Sync

No

Security Score

20/20

Group calls

Yes

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

Web iOS Android OSX Windows Linux

Audio recording

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

VoIP

-

Service integrations

Yes

Message history

Unlimited

License

M.I.T.

File Sharing

Yes

DIY integrations

Yes

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

Yes

Groups

-

Video recording

-

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

Yes

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

Yes

Hosting options

On premises & On Rocket.Chat

Real-time collaboration

Yes

Push Notifications

Yes

Integrations

Unlimited

Support

Yes

iOS Client

Yes

Mac OS Client

Yes

Public Channels

Yes

IRC Gateway

Yes

Live Streaming

Yes

Custom Domain

Yes

Auditing Panel

Yes

Discussion

Yes

LiveChat

Yes

Read Receipt

Yes

Social Network Login

Yes

Audio to Text Conversion

Yes

White Label

Yes

High Scalability cluster

Yes

Multi-language Interface

Yes

Omni-channel Integrations

Messenger, Twillio, Whatsapp, Slack, Telegram

Analytics Reporting

Yes

Audit Logs

Yes

Customizable User Permission

Yes

Desktop App

Windows, MacOs, Linux

Multifactor Authentication

Yes

LDAP / Active Directory

Real Time Sync

Threads

Yes

Broadcast Channel

Yes

Migration Assistance

Yes

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

-

Audio recording

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

VoIP

-

Service integrations

-

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

-

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

-

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

4.1+

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

-

Audio recording

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

VoIP

-

Service integrations

-

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

-

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

-

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

Web, Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android

Audio recording

No

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

VoIP

-

Service integrations

-

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

-

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

Yes

Groups

Yes

Video recording

No

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

Yes

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

15/20

Group calls

-

Private Channels

Yes

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

Yes

User Groups

Yes

Server Stored Messages

Permanent

Channel Settings

Yes

Open-Source

No

Peer-to-Peer

No

Jurisdiction

United States

Animated Profile

Only with Discord Nitro

Upload File Size

8 MB free, 50 or 100 MB paid

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

Chrome, iOS, Android, Mac OS, Windows

Audio recording

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

VoIP

-

Service integrations

Yes

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

-

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

Yes

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

-

Audio recording

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

VoIP

-

Service integrations

-

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

-

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

-

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

-

Audio recording

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

VoIP

-

Service integrations

-

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

-

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

-

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web

Audio recording

0

Publisher

0

End-to-end encryption

0

Media

0

VoIP

0

Service integrations

0

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

0

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

0

Groups

0

Video recording

0

File Size

0

Locationsharing

0

Multidevice

0

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

0

Required Android Version

0

Messaging systems

0

In-App Purchases

0

Server stored messages

0

Cloud Sync

0

Security Score

15/20

Group calls

-

Private Channels

0

Hosting options

0

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

0

User Groups

0

Server Stored Messages

0

Channel Settings

0

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

0

Genre

0

Co-Op

0

Controller Support

0

Storage

0

Native videoconferencing

0

Secure

0

Requires a Server

0

Positional Audio

0

2FA

0

Typical RAM usage

0

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

Android, iOS, Web, Mac, Windows, Windows Phone

Audio recording

Yes

Publisher

WhatsApp Inc.

End-to-end encryption

Yes

Media

images, video, audio, documents

VoIP

Yes

Service integrations

-

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

-

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

Yes up to 8 people

Groups

≤ 256

Video recording

Yes

File Size

100 MB

Locationsharing

Yes

Multidevice

Message Mirroring

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

-

Required Android Version

2.3.3 or above

Messaging systems

Data

In-App Purchases

No

Server stored messages

Transitory

Cloud Sync

Yes, Via Google

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

Auto-erase

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Platforms

-

Audio recording

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

VoIP

-

Service integrations

-

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

-

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

-

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

Decentralised

Code

Open Source

Platforms

-

Audio recording

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

VoIP

-

Service integrations

-

Message history

-

License

-

File Sharing

-

DIY integrations

-

Decentralized

-

Proprietary Dependencies

-

Videoconferencing

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

File Size

-

Locationsharing

-

Multidevice

-

Unit Testing

-

Open source

-

In-app purchases

-

Usernames

-

Message deletion

-

Open source backend

-

Audio/video streaming

-

Cloud sync

-

Proxy support

-

Open clients API

-

Multiplatform

-

Screensharing

-

Required Android Version

-

Messaging systems

-

In-App Purchases

-

Server stored messages

-

Cloud Sync

-

Security Score

-

Group calls

-

Private Channels

-

Hosting options

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Public Channels

-

IRC Gateway

-

Live Streaming

-

Custom Domain

-

Auditing Panel

-

Discussion

-

LiveChat

-

Read Receipt

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

White Label

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Analytics Reporting

-

Audit Logs

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Desktop App

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Migration Assistance

-

Android version

-

Search

-

User Groups

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Open-Source

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Jurisdiction

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Message Deletion

-

Genre

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Storage

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Secure

-

Requires a Server

-

Positional Audio

-

2FA

-

Typical RAM usage

-

Network

-

Code

-

Pros + Cons

Pro
 Supports Encryption

Allows for fully encrypted text, voice, and video chatting.
Comment

Pro
 Uses Matrix, the open communications protocol

Comment

Pro
 Open Source

Comment

Pro
 Supports text, voice, video

Integrates with Jitsi for multi-party video chats.
Comment

Pro
 Decentralization

Everybody can run their own server that can be connected to the global network.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 Actively developed

Comment

Pro
 Web and mobile (iOS, Android) versions available

Comment

Pro
 Etherpad real-time document collaboration

An easy to activate integration that allows multiple authors to edit a document simultaneously.
Comment

Pro
 Simple interface

Element has a very simple interface, adding the ability for more unexperienced users to use it.
Comment

Pro
 Large community

Either join the thousands of public rooms or create your own community!
Comment

Pro
 Search

Search messages in your current room, or all the rooms you're in. Not subject to a message history limit like Slack.
Comment

Pro
 End-to-end encrypted by default

So that the server(s) can’t see your data.
Comment

Pro
 Cross platform

Web browser Linux OS X Windows Android iOS
Comment

Pro
 Large existing community

With public rooms for many people, and you can create your own and let people from the community join.
Comment

Pro
 Self-hosting and federated network

Comment

Pro
 Libre/open source

Comment

Pro
 Decentralized

An open network for secure, decentralized communication.
Comment

Pro
 Supports encryption

Element allows for fully encrypted text, voice, and video chatting.
Comment

Pro
 VOIP and Videoconferencing

Comment

Con
 Buggy

Thousands of bug reports open on GitHub.
Comment

Pro
 Markdown support

Code snippets in chats can be highlighted with Markdown.
Comment

Pro
 Fire Sharing

Comment

Pro
 Permalink

Able to use permalink to refer the specificed message or media. It is useful for other system to make reference.
Comment

Pro
 Search

Search messages in your current room, or all rooms you're in. Not subject to a message history limit like Slack.
Comment

Pro
 Works everywhere in every country

Unlike most messenger apps, Signal works reliably in all countries by securely circumventing internet censorship.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 Provides security and privacy

Signal uses an advanced end to end encryption protocol that provides privacy for every message every time.
Comment

Pro
 Collects less data

Signal might only collect your phone number.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 Message mirroring on Signal Desktop

Signal Desktop is a Chrome extension that allows you to mirror messages from your phone, including replying.
Comment

Pro
 Recommended by Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden uses this messenger and recommends it to everony who is concerned about his privacy.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 SMS/MMS support

Signal can be your default SMS/MMS text messenger. Encryption is not possible when sending SMS to your contacts, however.
Comment

Con
 Cannot use in China

Signal has been blocked in China.
Comment

Con
 Cannot sync old message

According to Signal’s privacy terms, your old message cannot sync.
Comment

Con
 Needs an application on computer

Signal cannot using on web. You must install Signal on your device.
Comment

Con
 Single device

You cannot send and receive messages from multiple devices.
Comment

Con
 Cant use it on desktop without your phone

Comment

Con
 Needs access to your phone number and contacts to work

Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 Supports sharing of various different media types

Signal supports: emoji, pictures, videos, audio, contacts, any location and GIF.
Comment

Pro
 Note to Self feature

Allows you to send messages to yourself and sync to the desktop so you can use Signal as a kind of encrypted Pushbullet alternative.
Comment

Pro
 Supports encrypted group chats

Comment

Con
 Uses message mirroring

You phone must be on and connected to the internet for Signal Desktop to work.
Comment

Pro
 Free and convenient large file sharing

Copy/paste videos, gifs, images, geolocation, and documents, drag over files for practically any time up to 1.5GB in size. Images can be compressed, too.
Comment

Pro
 Free

The application is available free of cost.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 Beautiful UI

Very customizable with a lot of clean looking options.
Comment

Pro
 Possible to send photos and videos without compression

Comment

Pro
 Unlimited history

You can check your history back to the date you started using Telegram.
Comment

Pro
 Privacy focused

In addition to the end-to-end encryption 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 device.
Comment

Pro
 Save time with inline bots and link previews

Unfortunately on the desktop, videos don't apply, 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 the 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.
Comment

Pro
 2-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 if via text message if you're account is over seven days old and will receive it within a week (in case you recover anything before then).
Comment

Pro
 Channels for one way broadcasting

Broadcasting channels suitable for announcing things.
Comment

Pro
 Saved messages

You can write messages to yourself. You can write some notes, add links, and see everything across all your devices.
Comment

Pro
 Cross-platform

Works on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android iOS, Windows Phone, and Firefox OS even. Has a web app that changes it's appearance based on the device it's running on and if its browser is full screen, etc.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 High quality calls

Uses the latest GPL audio codecs, such as Opus, an adaptative high-quality codec that supersedes AAC at any bitrate.
Comment

Pro
 Pinned Messages

You can pin messages to the top of groups or supergroups so members will see them when opening the group.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 Free of cost

The application is available free of cost.
Comment

Pro
 Open source client apps

Client apps are open source, making whole service more trustworthy.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 @mentions

You can ping people to get their attention by @mentioning them.
Comment

Pro
 Unlimited storage

Unlimited number of files can be stored forever on the cloud. You can upload files up to 1.5 GB each.
Comment

Pro
 Supergroups of up to 100,000 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.
Comment

Pro
 Voice and video messages

You can post voice and video messages if you are too lazy to write text messages.
Comment

Pro
 Customer support is within the app

Although it's volunteer based, but still pretty top-notch if available, which it tends to be.
Comment

Pro
 Self-destruct messages

Messages can be set on a timer. They will disappear after the timer expires.
Comment

Pro
 No ads in Groups

There will never be advertisement in group canals. Note. In big broadcast canals an option will be given if advertisement is available (based on broadcast canal description — NOT its contents) or preferred to opt-out easily (based on new subscription model).
Comment

Pro
 Group Voice Chat

This Discord-like feature adds to the interactivity of the application.
Comment

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).
Comment

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.
Comment

Con
 In groups you can't see who has read your message

In groups, you can only see that someone has read your message, but you can't see who of the members has seen it. This is very good solved in Google Hangouts, for example.
Comment

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.
Comment

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.
Comment

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.
Comment

Con
 No team options

Comment

Pro
 E&_4

Comment

Pro
 Free and convenient large file sharing

Copy/paste videos, gifs, images, geolocation, and documents, drag over files for practically any time up to 1.5GB in size. Images can be compressed, too.
Comment

Pro
 Media messaging

Videos, gifs, images, geolocation, and documents.
Comment

Pro
 Banned in China

Comment

Pro
 Supergroups of up to 5000 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.
Comment

Con
 No private channels

Comment

Con
 Centralized

Comment

Pro
 Clean, modern interface

Comment

Con
 Poor support

Support is severely lacking. Don't bother trying to open a ticket unless you're a paying customer because they literally couldn't care less about the free users or beta testers.
Comment

Pro
 Free and open source

Rocket.Chat is available for free. It's licensed under the MIT license with source code available on GitHub.
Comment

Pro
 Native apps for all major desktop and mobile platforms

Rocket.Chat has native apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 Decentralized

Comment

Pro
 Quick to load

Comment

Pro
 in-chat payment

Allow paying for entering the chat, collect donations, send payment requests
Comment

Pro
 moderated messages

Admin should approve any message before showing to all
Comment

Pro
 Live calls

Comment

Pro
 Quick to load, pure JS, Html5 and CSS

Comment

Pro
 Strong Rest API

Comment

Pro
 Create many rooms in seconds

Comment

Con
 Proprietary software

Rumbletalk is a closed source service.
Comment

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.
Comment

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
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 Ability to create bots

Discord provides an API for creating custom bots.
Comment

Pro
 Targeting of roles

Targeting roles allows for quickly requesting someone from a group e.g. artist, moderator, etc.
Comment

Pro
 Android app has push notifications

Comment

Pro
 Free for unlimited users

Unlimited amount of users.
Comment

Pro
 Has low-latency VoIP support 

Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 DDoS mitigation

Discord prevents users from being DDoSed out of games.
Comment

Con
 Anti-privacy license terms

Comment

Pro
 Dark theme out of the box

Comment

Pro
 Syntax highlighting and Markdown support

The support is limited but still exists. It's a killer feature for dev teams.
Comment

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.
Comment

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.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 Does not allow NSFW related things to be posted unless in a NSFW channel

Comment

Pro
 Friendly payment policy

Free accounts have no tangible restrictions. Premium accounts are 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 anyone who wants it. In contrast to Slask, where all active members of the server should be "premium".
Comment

Con
 Proprietary software

Discord is closed-source, meaning their code isn't available for inspection or reproduction
Comment

Con
 Based on Electron = eats a lot of ram

Comment

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.
Comment

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.
Comment

Pro
 Language localization

Have localization for many language, including Russian.
Comment

Pro
 Ability to thread channels

Ability to create channel categories for channels to sit inside of.
Comment

Pro
 Numerous controls for setting member roles.

Deny access, Deny write message, Allow read messages etc.
Comment

Pro
 Low effort invite mechanics

Comment

Pro
 Game integration 

Discord shows which game each user is currently playing, which among other things helps users to form PUGs with minimal hassle.
Comment

Pro
 @mentions

You can ping people to get their attention even if they are not online by @mentioning them. Slack supports desktop notifications.
Comment

Con
 Expensive when you need to upgrade

At $6.67 per user / month (or $8 if billed monthly) , Slack is significantly more expensive than the competition if you need features such as unlimited integrations (more than 10) or unlimited message storage (more than 10,000). However, the free version of Slack includes unlimited users. However if you need only unlimited messages you can use storage services like https://slarck.com to upload then browse and search your entire message history, while staying in Slack's free plan. So with a combo of Slack+Slarck this con is not that major.
Comment

Con
 Proprietary (non-free/libre)

Comment

Con
 No 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.
Comment

Con
 Hidden max limit of free users per channel

Slack says that their free accounts support an unlimited number of users, which is true. However they don't mention that there is an undisclosed maximum number of users per channel (8462). For a large open source community, this is something to keep in mind.
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Con
 No E2E encryption

Data is sent of SSL only, not E2E encrypted.
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Pro
 Robust integration with a huge number of tools

Slack integrates with tools like Trello, GitHub, Dropbox, Mailchimp, and dozens of others, so you can have a centralized event feed of your project right alongside your chat. This is tremendously useful for keeping context with your discussions.
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Pro
 Drag & drop files in channels

You can upload a file to any channel over HTTPS simply by dragging and dropping.
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Pro
 Inline link previews (photos, mockups, etc.)

When a link is added, some content in the link is shown such as image - like how Facebook does it when you share a link.
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Pro
 Edit messages easily

It allows you to change what you sent by hovering to the message and selecting "Edit message" under the ellipsis (...).
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Pro
 Shows local time of each participant

You can click on the profile of a user to see their local time. An especially useful feature when members of your team are working in different timezones.
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Pro
 Dev team is invested, responsive, and friendly

Having submitted both feedback and support requests for bot development, I can personally attest that the team takes feedback seriously, and responds quickly to communication. This is vital for any closed-source or hosted project.
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Pro
 Self chatting

Creative implementation which is very good for personal journaling or drafting/collecting ideas. Previously, to do this, users needed to create a private channel with themselves. Note that some other team-chat apps may disallow creating group/channel with no 2nd person(s).
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Pro
 It can surprise you

There's a checkbox in preferences under advanced options that may surprise you.
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Pro
 Multiple channels for different groups

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Pro
 Fantastic search functionality

You can deep search messages, files and snippets. Given Slacks integration into many external services, Slack is good enough to act as the central search interface for your entire team.
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Con
 You must have a smartphone to register, to use it on Windows desktop

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Pro
 Mobile and desktop apps available

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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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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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Pro
 Secure communication

Brosix uses advanced 256-bit P2P encryption that secures all of the communication channels.
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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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Con
 Owned by Google

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Pro
 Google Voice integration

Allows for a fixed phone number, receiving and making calls. Calling US or Canada is free.
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Con
 Won't work on Windows 8-style UI

As Hangouts uses a browser plugin on the desktop and it doesn't work with Windows 8-style UI, it has to be used in desktop mode.
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Con
 Not recommended for long sessions

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Con
 Lacking clients for older versions

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Pro
 Free group video support

Hangouts works with up to 10 participants using video out of the box or up to 15 if you are a business, government or school. It determines who is the primary speaker at any given time, and the camera view automatically switches to that user.
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Pro
 Mobile support

Hangouts offers both an Android and iOS app so users can participate from nearly any mobile device in addition to his Desktop.
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Pro
 Completely free

Google offers all features of Hangouts completely free. There are business, education and government solutions that increase the participant count to for video calls to 15 and offers support.
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Pro
 Cross platform

Hangouts work on Android, iOS, Chrome OS, web and as a Chrome extension.
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Pro
 Integrates with Google Maps for sharing locations

When chatting with people while trying to plan a meet up, the share map button can be extremely useful.
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Pro
 Easy to start using

Hangouts is integrated with Gmail & Google+, does not require you to download desktop software, and all chats can take place directly in your browser, significantly reducing the barrier to entry for a new user.
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Pro
 Useful for businesses

Hangouts can scale to become a videoconferencing solution for an entire company, since the software can run on nearly all platforms. In fact, Google itself uses Hangouts as its meeting room video conference software.
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Pro
 Live broadcasting and instant recording

With Google+ “Hangouts on Air”, you can broadcast any hangout to an unlimited audience via your Goolge+ Profile or simply a generic YouTube link. Moreover, any Hangout on Air (public or private) is automatically saved as YouTube video that you can keep for private reference or use in any way that you would normally share a YouTube video. This allows you to record conversations without additional obtrusive software.
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Pro
 Screen sharing

Any user can share his screen (or only a specific desktop or window) while still continuing an audio conversation.
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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 here.
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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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Con
 Proprietary

Not open source.
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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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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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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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Pro
 Signal protocol

Whatsapp uses the state-of-the-art Signal protocol that ensure strong end-to-end encryption.
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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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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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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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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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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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Con
 No cloud sync

Messages are not stored on WhatsApp server for privacy and security reasons.
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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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Con
 No audio, video, or images

Only Text messaging possible. At the moment.
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Pro
 Open source, free and decentralized

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