Updated 02-Mar-2026
For XMPP server, see Prosody, which works lovely and is super-easy to integrate with coturn for audio and video calls. Note that Movim and Jitsi Meet are two additional items that can be integrated as well.
Preamble
I've used Signal for the past number of years as a chat / videocall app, having switched from Telegram after it went full Nazi. But there are other options, some I've tried. Below are some notes on these various options for personal (perhaps professional) use.
The biggest problem with Signal is that as a US-based organization it can be subverted by the US federal government, which is currently under a fascist regime. And so, we must move along.
The problem with Matrix is that it is a huge headache to use, with constant interrupting security issues, the resources needed to manage a server are crazy, and there is a huge single instance that is a definite single point of failure.
There should be some kind of bridge that can talk, say, from XMPP to Matrix, and to other kinds of chat. The main thing is to find a home, that isn't just a compromise, or supports venture capital dudes.
Signal
- Free, run on donations
- I donate $12/year
- Not really open source as they tend to do a dump every so many months instead of showing activity on the source
- Closed as a platform, cannot run own client or own server. No web client.
- Perhaps blackmailed by Amazon to make enough changes, switched to Google servers, but how good is that?
- Looking for an alternative
- Really great article on the Snikket website: protocols vs. products.
Matrix / Element
- Tried it out for several months
- Too much effort keeping keys and access working
- Not friendly to multiple apps for the same account
- Server requirements are very high, some say not even scalable or practicable in certain situations, especially with open source Synapse
XMPP / Conversations.im / Dino / Movim / Jitsi Meet
- PubSub and ActivityPub gateway.
- Open source clients and servers, can run own server (Snikket looks good, also available as hosted).
- Conversations.im is an interesting implementation, with a decent Android app, free hosting (there are other hosting options).
- Conversations Android app is not bad, actually pretty good
- Conversations also has white label hosting which is a good deal if only have a few addresses (though using Snikket hosted makes more sense for more than a few addresses).
- Linux / OpenBSD app Dino is quite competent. See also Dino on Github and Dino on Mastodon.
- Gajim supports Windows and Linux (and v.1.9.5 can change font size via keyboard shortcut), but doesn't support video / voice calls.
- ejabberd is one of several servers one can run, others include Prosody, Openfire and Tigase. Snikket is based on Prosody, and includes self-hosted code and low price hosting (thanks Thej).
- Movim has an overlay blog / social network that can be used with any xmpp account. Quite nice as a web interface, and complementary (interoperates well) with Dino (Linux) and Conversations (Android) clients. Some nice news and other public-facing group chats and individual posts.
- XMPP looks like the technically better option for what is available (vs. Signal / Matrix)
- Check out this excellent discussion on protocols vs. products, for example XMPP vs. Signal.
Conversations - Android XMPP client
This is a paid app through the Google Play Store but also can be downloaded free-of-charge from F-Droid (I use Obtainium for this).
Dino - Linux XMPP client
Dino is pretty neat. It supports voice/video along with text, images, etc.
Install Dino
On Debian:
sudo apt install dino-im
Or for the latest nightly, which may or may not be dino-im, as sometimes this is dino.
For Windows, there is a compiled version from 2023 (but no dark mode).
Dino Tweaks
sudo nano ~/.config/gtk-4.0/gtk.css
add
@import 'colors.css';
window.dino-main {
font-size: 14px;
}
window.dino-main .dino-conversation {
font-size: 15px;
}
Ongoing development of Dino
Dino is new-ish in terms of feature set and many things can be added (developers wanted). For example, deleting and/or purging messages in a given conversation. There are some work-arounds with SQLite.
Jitsi (video conferencing)
- Open source and own instance
- Unclear of security model
- Web, Android apps
- Kinda replaces Zoom, instead of a chat app
- Complaints of bugginess