Rebel Tech AllianceThreaded Chat (Community) app alternatives
Alternatives to: Slack, Discord, Teams, Google Chat
Signal is great for private group chats, but for some group chats you really need to be able to have threads (or topics) within the chat. Avoid the big tech surveillance with these privacy-friendly alts:
| App name | Open Source | Structure; Business model | Features | Country of origin | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.png) Zulip |
Yes | Private company (Kandra Labs Inc); Freemium | Topics within Channels; N.B. no E2EE! | USA | Zulip.com |
.png) Element |
Yes | Private company; Free if self-hosted, paid for business | Matrix-based; Chat in 'rooms' (like topics/channels); E2EE | UK | Element.io |
.png) Discourse |
Yes | Private company; Paid hosted plans | Host a community forum for your business or community; Discussion topics tagged by category | USA registered company, but open source | Discourse.org |
.png) Mattermost |
No | Private company; Free if self-hosted, paid for enterprise | Aimed at organisations that need high levels of security and privacy; no E2EE but can self-host | USA | Mattermost.com |
.png) RocketChat |
Yes | Private company; Free if self-hosted, paid hosted plans | Aimed at organisations that need high levels of security and privacy; E2EE | USA | Rocket.chat |
RTA's choice
We use Zulip.