Instead of Signal, try one of these 5.
Every alternative is lined up against Signal on what people actually switch for: price, open source, self-hosting, offline use and platforms. Signal sits in the first row, so you can see what you give up.
How to read this. “Yes” means fully supported by the maker. “Partial” means it works with caveats. Likes reflect community popularity; vendors can’t pay for them or for placement. How we compare.
Signal alternatives at a glance
Signal is a free messaging app. We compared 5 alternatives: 3 are open source, 4 are completely free, 2 can be self-hosted and 1 works fully offline. The most popular is Telegram, with 3.1k likes.
Decentralised, encrypted chat built on the Matrix protocol.
Free · Open source · Self‑hostablePeer-to-peer encrypted chat and video calls
Free · Open source · Works offlineOpen federated protocol powering decentralized chat and calls.
Free · Open source · Self‑hostable