Open Source Telegram Alternatives

The best open source alternative to Telegram is Signal. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Telegram and loads of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to Telegram are Element, Tox, Wire and Matrix.

filter to find the best alternatives

Telegram alternatives are mainly Instant Messengers, but if you're looking for Group Chat Apps or Encrypted Chat Apps you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Online, Mac, Android, Windows, Linux, Open Source and Self-Hosted. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Telegram.
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Alternatives list

  1. Kontalk is a secure instant messenger, allowing you to send and receive text, image and voice messages (other file types coming soon) to and from other Kontalk users completely free of charge.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Android
    • Self-Hosted
     
  2. Librem Chat icon
     8 likes

    End-to-end encrypted chat, VOIP, and video calling used by millions of people.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • F-Droid
     
  3. signal-cli icon
     2 likes

    signal-cli is a commandline interface for the Signal messenger. It supports registering, verifying, sending and receiving messages. signal-cli uses a patched libsignal-service-java, extracted from the Signal-Android source code.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Java
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
     
  4. Torchat icon
     30 likes

    TorChat is a peer to peer instant messenger with a completely decentralized design, built on top of Tor's location hidden services, giving you extremely strong anonymity while being very easy to use without the need to install or configure anything.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  5. Strafe icon
     8 likes

    Open source chat platform offering end-to-end encrypted messaging, uncensored communication, markdown support, file sharing, self-hosting, multi-device sync, server management, voice or video calls, no data tracking, transparent codebase, and community-driven development.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
     
  6. VeilidChat icon
     4 likes

    VeilidChat is a 1-to-1, person-to-person text only chat application which serves as a technology demonstration for the Veilid application development framework. All communication is end to end encrypted, authenticated, private routed, and peer-to-peer. It's currently in early beta.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Android
    • iPhone
     
  7. NekoGram X icon
     4 likes

    The third-party Telegram android app. Contribute to NekoX-Dev/NekoX development by creating an account on GitHub.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Android
     
  8. Axolotl icon
     5 likes

    Axolotl is a complete cross-platform Signal client, compatible with the Ubuntu Phone and more. Unlike the desktop Signal client, Axolotl is completely autonomous and doesn't require you to have created an account with the...

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Ubuntu Touch
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Linux Mobile
     
  9. Adapt Chat icon
     3 likes

    Open source encrypted group-chat platform focused on privacy and efficiency, featuring Rust-based backend for speed, customizable interface, minimal data collection, real-time messaging, community-driven improvements, and ergonomic design for various use cases.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
     
  10.  2 likes

    A fork of Signal for Android with proprietary Google binary blobs removed. Uses OpenStreetMap for maps and a websocket server connection, instead of Google Maps and Firebase Cloud Messaging.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Android
    • F-Droid
     
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