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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Why wouldn’t XMPP work? It fulfills all your requirements and has nice modern apps, especially for mobile. Definitely better than Matrix.
The easiest to get started with it would be setting up a Snikket server (Prosody based, but pre-configured for small private groups).
