Self-hosted alternatives to Telegram

A messenger hosted by you, with no third-party dependency. Below are 12 open source options you host on your own server — with no monthly per-user fee and full control of your data.

Rocket.Chat

★ 45,773

Rocket.Chat is a complete communication platform (chat, voice, video) that puts data protection first. It's the self-hosted alternative to Slack for companies that need control and compliance.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems MIT

Novu

★ 39,282

Notification infrastructure for developers.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems MIT

Mattermost

★ 38,368

Mattermost is a secure team chat, similar to Slack, geared toward development and integrated with Git. Self-hosted, it keeps the company's conversations and files on your own infrastructure.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems ⊘ Proprietary

Chatwoot

★ 34,258

Chatwoot is a customer support hub (live chat, email, social media) in one place. It's the self-hosted alternative to Intercom and Zendesk, with no per-agent cost.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems ⊘ Proprietary

ntfy

★ 31,638

Push notifications to phone or desktop using HTTP PUT/POST, with Android app, CLI and web app, similar to Pushover and Gotify.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems Apache-2.0

Zulip

★ 25,469

Zulip is a powerful, open source group chat application.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems Apache-2.0

SimpleX Chat

★ 18,225

The most private and secure chat and applications platform - now with double ratchet E2E encryption.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems AGPL-3.0

Apprise

★ 16,857

Apprise allows you to send a notification to almost all of the most popular notification services available to us today such as: Telegram, Discord, Slack, Amazon SNS, Gotify, etc.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems MIT

Gotify

★ 15,244

Notification server with Android and CLI clients (alternative to PushBullet).

Communication - Custom Communication Systems MIT

Tinode

★ 13,409

Instant messaging platform. Backend in Go. Clients: Swift iOS, Java Android, JS webapp, scriptable command line; chatbots.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems GPL-3.0

Element

★ 13,273

Fully-featured Matrix client for Web, iOS & Android.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems Apache-2.0

Centrifugo

★ 10,490

Language-agnostic real-time messaging (Websocket or SockJS) server.

Communication - Custom Communication Systems MIT

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free self-hosted alternative to Telegram?

Yes. We've gathered 12 self-hosted, open source alternatives to Telegram — including Rocket.Chat, Novu, Mattermost. You run all of them on your own server.

What is the best open source alternative to Telegram?

Rocket.Chat is one of the most popular (45,773 GitHub stars). The "best" depends on your case — compare the options below.

Do I need a server to replace Telegram?

Yes. You can use a home server (homelab) or a cheap VPS (from ~€4/mo). See the hosting suggestions on this page.