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Session

Onion-routed private messenger with no phone number

Chat & Communication ★ 589 stars Medium setup GPL-3.0

Session is an end-to-end encrypted messenger that routes messages through a decentralized onion network of community-operated nodes. It requires no phone number or email to sign up.

Official siteSource code

Key features

  • Onion-routed message delivery
  • No phone number required
  • Decentralized service node network
  • End-to-end encryption

Pros & cons

Strengths

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Written in TypeScript
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM

Trade-offs

  • Relies on the Session node network
  • Message delivery can be slower

Is Session secure?

OSV.dev has no published security advisories for Session's repository. No known vulnerabilities is not proof of security: it means none have been publicly catalogued.

Source: OSV.dev, checked 2026-10-14. How this is measured.

Session replaces

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

Health badge

Maintain Session? Add its health score to your README. The badge links back to this page.

SelfHostIndex: 80 · excellent

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<a href="https://selfhostindex.com/app/session-messenger/"><img src="https://selfhostindex.com/badge/session-messenger.svg" alt="SelfHostIndex health score for Session"></a>
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.. image:: https://selfhostindex.com/badge/session-messenger.svg
   :alt: SelfHostIndex health score for Session
   :target: https://selfhostindex.com/app/session-messenger/

The score is recomputed on every nightly rebuild from public repository data — see how it is calculated.

Compare Session

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