Question: What do people in this community recommend for self-hosted instant messanger projects? I host a VOIP service for my nerd herd and due to recent events i’m attempting to migrate out groups chats off of the major platforms (Discord, Google chats, Slack, Etc.) as well.
There are a few notes that were requested/requirements.
- Self-hosted
- Supports images
- Has a decent mobile app
- Encrypted communication
- Expected load ~25 users.
I am doing my own digging but wanted to hear the communites opinions on some of the projects that came up in searches.
- IRC/XMPP - dosent really work for the request but is a classic, so I feel had to mention it.
- Rocket.Chat - seems like the best option so far, but I was having trouble finding current reviews, and its licensing is a bit much.
- Matrix also is close to checking all the boxes, but it wasnt clear how it works on mobile (Element seemed like the mobile app that was recommended).
- Revolt was high on the SEO results but most of the discussion around it was about drama with the maintainers (that is what prompted this post, i’m fishing for more current opinions).
- Zulip seemed similar to Rocket.Chat, but more expensive if we had to get a license.
I appreciate peoples opinions and recomendations on this topic.
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I would recommend Matrix, tried all others, too. A bonus idea you could take a look at: https://github.com/balzack/databag
Probably Matrix
I’ve been using a self hosted matrix server for the past year, no complaints so far and since a lot of technical rooms already exist on other matrix servers, interoperability is a big plus. Also element mobile app is pretty decent but there are plenty of other alternative apps too.
The new Element X app is awesome and it support the new Matrix 2.0. I highly recommend Matrix
Yes, absolutely. Might be a bit difficult to set up, OP if you have any problems you can contact me at @gregor:gregtech.eu and I’ll help out (:
You could look into prose. The interface of slack/discord/mattermost, built on XMPP, with E2EE.
I deployed RocketChat on two different client installations (didn’t check the licensing you’re mentioning, I’ll have to look into that) and I run a Prosody instance (XMPP) on my own; tried Matrix for a short while and ran away from that mess as fast as I could. anyhow, although the messengers work without any significant issues or downtime, the amount of flak I get from non-tech normies about the client apps is staggering.
the apps just aren’t up to current UX standards. they’re used to Twitter and iMessage and Telegram quality UX, and getting used to these PoC-quality apps - both on mobile and desktop - makes them “feel icky”. I’ve had to intervene on a number of occasions when some of them transferred their business-related comms to other platforms because they just can’t/won’t get used to these apps.
I’m not sure if matrix will ever be able to overcome this hurdle
It’s probably more than you are looking for but if you are already looking at self hosting things connected with NextCloud, use NextCloud Talk. We use it for the family and it is great.
Last time I checked, Nextcloud Talk android app simply refuse to implement any sort of pull system. If one’s using a google-less phone one needs to set up a push system on top (I’ve never managed to get the NC push system to work properly). There’s even a separate “Nextcloud Notification checker” app on F-Droid to remedy the problem. It’s all a bit silly.
The really hilarious thing to me is that the NextPush app (unified push provider that can be run on your nextcloud server) is unsupported by nextcloud talk. But it is supported by a bunch of other competing applications.
Matrix works great. Element X is my favourite client.
I host Rocket.Chat for my wife’s business. The free self-hosted version now allows up to 50 users before having to purchase a license (was 25 prior to the version 7 update). If you kick a user you simply deactivate their account and regain the user slot. Rather than deleting a user completely which would additionally delete any messages they’ve posted.
Easy to host, easy to upgrade. Mobile apps both IOS and Android work well.
I wanted to use Zulip as I felt the interface was cleaner. But the 10 user limit was a deal breaker.
You want Matrix. Synapse if you intend to host for others, Conduit if you just want to host for yourself. There are quite a few different clients but I do indeed use ElementX on mobile.
I’ve been having sync issues with conduit lately, takes minutes for the mobile app to catch up. No way to purge old media, or to use something S3-compatible for its storage either.
Also, element x doesn’t support spaces, so if you want to bridge other chats into matrix they all are going to be messed up together.
I like matrix as a concept, but both servers and clients are in a bit of a shitshow state (same as xmpp was years ago).
It’s kind of depressing how fragmented the Matrix ecosystem is, a bunch of clients but none seem to support everything together, servers that are slow and bloated, and don’t support super basic maintenance tasks like cleaning up old stuff, etc…
It is pretty bad. After this thread I tried using Element X again only to learn that its “favorites” aren’t the same as Element’s “favorites” and more so you can’t set someone a favorite in E-X, at least not of your server is Conduit. It’s just silently ignored.
SimpleX is pretty good for person to person chat I’ve heard it doesn’t handle large groups very well though.
Mattermost is an easily hostable slack-like option.
Look into mattermost. Quite powerful, and free.
It is BUT you are limited to their test servers for mobile notifications and they honestly suck. It’s a coin flip whether you get them. And if you want better you have to set up your own container system like them with firebase and Apple Dev ids.
I like it still but for a Greenfield project I’d probably try matrix 2.0 on synapse with element x as the mobile app.
Matrix also is close to checking all the boxes, but it wasnt clear how it works on mobile (Element seemed like the mobile app that was recommended).
I run Matrix, and it’s pretty great. Though I would recommend Schildichat over Element for the mobile app. I had all kinds of issues with Element Mobile somehow screwing up the E2EE keys for my other sessions. Nothing seemed to fix it except removing my account from it completely. Switched to Schildichat and haven’t had that issue since.
Seconded with Matrix. All I’m wanting for it is for someone to make a Discord/Revolt UI frontend for Matrix 2.0 and it’ll be a drop in replacement
