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Delta Chat

Decentralized messenger built on top of email

Chat & Communication ★ 929 stars Medium setup MPL-2.0

Delta Chat is a messaging app that uses standard email servers as its transport, providing chat-like UX with end-to-end encryption. Any IMAP/SMTP mail server can serve as the self-hosted backend.

Official siteSource code

Key features

  • Uses existing email infrastructure
  • Autocrypt end-to-end encryption
  • No phone number required
  • Cross-platform clients

Pros & cons

Strengths

  • Leverages decentralized email
  • No new server protocol

Trade-offs

  • Email latency for messages
  • Needs an IMAP/SMTP account

Delta Chat replaces

Self-hosted WhatsApp alternativesSelf-hosted Signal alternativesSelf-hosted Telegram alternatives

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10 head-to-head comparisons.

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