Processing
End-to-end encrypted cloud
How product activity is processed.
INDEPENDENT SOFTWARE
Element
An open-source Matrix client and collaboration platform supporting decentralized or self-hosted messaging with end-to-end encryption.
- Web · Desktop · Mobile · Self-hosted
- Hybrid
- Open source
- Pricing
- Open core
- Category
- Communication
Privacy at a glance
A quick view of the dimensions most useful for comparing this product. Unconfirmed facts stay explicitly unconfirmed.
Identity
Pseudonymous account
Whether an account is needed to use it.
Tracking
Optional telemetry
Reported analytics and tracking posture.
Ownership & source
Open source
Availability of the product source code.
Offline support
Partial
Whether core use can continue offline.
Self-hosting
Yes
Whether you can run it on your own infrastructure.
What to know
Why it stands out
- Users and organizations can select or operate their own Matrix homeserver rather than relying on a single centralized provider.
- Element supports end-to-end encrypted rooms and publishes its client source code.
Trade-offs
- Encryption can vary by room, client, bridge, bot, and administrator configuration; not every Matrix interaction is necessarily end-to-end encrypted.
- Homeservers necessarily process account, room, routing, membership, and other metadata even when message content is encrypted.
Best for
Communities and organizations wanting federated or self-hosted secure messaging with data-sovereignty options.
Consider another option when
People seeking the simplest possible messenger with one provider and uniform defaults across all integrations.
Technical details
Complete privacy-profile dimensions, grouped for easier review. Each value is retained from the catalogue record.
4 groups · 18 dimensions
- Processing
- End-to-end encrypted cloud
- Storage
- Encrypted cloud
- Offline support
- Partial
- Self-hosting
- Yes
- Data export
- Partial
- Data deletion
- Partial
Alternatives
Signal
Private messaging and calling with end-to-end encryption enabled for every Signal conversation.
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Jitsi Meet
An open-source web and mobile video-conferencing platform that can be used through public instances or deployed on a private server.
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Proton Mail
An encrypted email service using end-to-end encryption for supported private-email flows and zero-access encryption for stored mailbox content.
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Evidence
8 public sources collected
- Elementelement.io · Product page · Matrix-based messaging, self-hosting, and encryption claims
- Element End-to-End Encryptionelement.io · Documentation · E2EE behavior and Matrix basis
- Element decentralised Matrix networkelement.io · Documentation · federation, self-hosting, and data sovereignty
View all 8 sources
- Element Privacy Policyelement.io · Privacy policy · hosted account and service data practices
- Element Web source repositorygithub.com · Source repository · open-source client
- Element plans and pricingelement.io · Product page · community and enterprise deployment tiers
- Element Legalelement.io · Terms · privacy, terms, and legal documents for hosted Element services
- Encrypted history sharingelement.io · Documentation · 2026 encrypted-history improvements and E2EE behavior
Claim listing and corrections
Makers can request a listing claim, and anyone can submit an evidence-backed correction. Requests are reviewed before public profile information changes.