Add to Chrome
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Add to SafariWhen comparing Facebook Messenger vs Element (formerly Riot), the Slant community recommends Element (formerly Riot) for most people. In the question“What are the best Skype alternatives?” Element (formerly Riot) is ranked 1st while Facebook Messenger is ranked 37th. The most important reason people chose Element (formerly Riot) is:
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.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Chat head for quick access
Only for android platform though!
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.
Pro Markdown support
Code snippets in chats can be highlighted with Markdown.
Pro Simple interface
Element has a very simple interface, adding the ability for more inexperienced users to use it.
Pro VOIP and Videoconferencing
Pro Supports encryption
Element allows for fully encrypted text, voice, and video chatting.
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.
Pro Decentralized
An open network for secure, decentralized communication.
Pro Self-hosting and federated network
Pro Libre/open source
Pro Search
Search messages in your current room, or all the rooms you're in. Not subject to a message history limit like Slack.
Pro Cross platform
Web browser
Linux
OS X
Windows
Android
iOS
Pro Large existing community
With public rooms for many people, and you can create your own and let people from the community join.
Pro Etherpad real-time document collaboration
An easy to activate integration that allows multiple authors to edit a document simultaneously.
Pro File Sharing
Pro Supports text, voice, video
Cons
Con Owned by Facebook
Con Cluttered user interface
Messenger has so many features accessible from one page that it is often difficult to find what you're looking for.
Con End-to-end encryption only in "Secret" conversations
If you want e2e encryption, you need to start a secret conversation.
Con Not very customizable
With so many features in one app, it's very possible you might not be a fan of at least one of them. Too bad you can't disable anything in settings.
Con Closed Source
