When comparing Signal vs Keybase, the Slant community recommends Signal for most people. In the question“What is the best team chat software?” Signal is ranked 2nd while Keybase is ranked 25th. The most important reason people chose Signal is:
Signal uses an advanced end to end encryption protocol that provides privacy for every message every time.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Provides security and privacy
Signal uses an advanced end to end encryption protocol that provides privacy for every message every time.
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.
Pro Supports encrypted group chats
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.
Pro Supports sharing of various different media types
Signal supports: emoji, pictures, videos, audio, contacts, any location and GIF.
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
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.
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.
Pro Works everywhere in every country
Unlike most messenger apps, Signal works reliably in all countries by securely circumventing internet censorship.
Pro Recommended by Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden uses this messenger and recommends it to everyone who is concerned about his privacy.
Pro E2E encrypted
Completely end-to-end encrypted.
Pro Identity verification
Users can publish proofs of identity (PGP public key, Twitter, Facebook, etc).
Pro FOSS
Free (as in beer) and Open Source Software.
Pro Encrypted file sharing
Securely share files.
Pro Public encrypted filesystem
For sharing files publicly.
Pro 250GB of free team file storage
250GB of free storage for encrypted files in a team.
Pro Public teams
Teams can be public with open access or admin-approved access. Opt-in to list public teams.
Pro Private teams
Teams can be completely private (access granted via admin-approval only, not publicly listed).
Pro Encrypted Git
Encrypted private or team Git repositories with automatic commit signatures.
Pro Blockchain technology
Based on blockchain technology.
Pro Sigchain verification
View/verify the cryptographic signature history of any user.
Pro PGP/GPG support
Encrypt/decrypt any PGP message or file with minimal effort.
Pro Public key encryption
Supports public key encryption.
Pro Private encrypted filesystem
Securely store personal files that only you can access.
Pro Shared private encrypted filesystem
Share files securely and privately with other users, a group of users, or a team.
Pro 250GB of free private file storage
250GB of free storage for privately-encrypted files.
Pro Free static site hosting
Host a public static website for free. Sites are automatically viewable via keybase.pub if an index.html or index.md exist in your public files.
Pro Emoji reactions to limit excessive posts and notifications
Pro E2E encrypted team chat
Teams are E2E encrypted, unlike Slack and other services.
Cons
Con Needs access to your phone number and contacts to work
Con Single device
Signal can only be registered to one mobile device at a time. But you can link Signal to Signal Desktop.
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.
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.