How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Session removes the phone number and the central server, routing messages through a decentralised network.
- SimpleX goes furthest on metadata: no user identifiers at all, not even a number to hide.
- Threema is the polished paid option from Switzerland, with no number required and a one off price.
- Element, on the Matrix network, is the choice when you want federation and self hosting.
- WhatsApp is the pragmatic entry: Signal grade encryption for chats, inside Meta's metadata house.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Session | No phone number, no central server | Free | Yes |
 SimpleX Chat | Strongest metadata protection | Free | Yes |
 Threema | Polished privacy for a one off price | $5.99 | No |
 Element | Federated, self hostable messaging | Free | Yes |
 Wire | Business grade privacy and teams | Free | Yes |
 Briar | Messaging that survives network shutdowns | Free | Yes |
 WhatsApp | Reaching everyone, with encrypted chats | Free | Yes |
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The best Signal alternatives in 2026
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Session answers Signal's two most common criticisms directly: it asks for no phone number, and there is no Session company server holding a map of its users. Your account is a long generated ID, and messages travel through a network of independently run nodes using onion routing, so no single point sees both ends of a conversation. For journalists, activists and the simply stubborn, that architecture is the point.
The price is convenience. Messages can take longer to land, finding people means exchanging IDs like email addresses in 1995, and your group chat will be small because your contacts are probably not here. Session is free and open source. It is the right tool when the threat model is real; it is an empty room when it is not.
What we like- Account is a generated ID, no phone number or email exists to leak, messages route through a decentralised onion network of service nodes, open source clients and published protocol design, group chats, voice and attachments cover everyday use
Watch out for- Delivery can be slower than centralised messengers, no phone number means no contact discovery: you swap IDs manually, smaller user base than any mainstream app, voice and video quality trail the big platforms
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
SimpleX is the privacy maximalist's current answer. Where Signal hides content but runs accounts, SimpleX removes the account identity itself: each connection is its own pairwise channel, relays see isolated traffic rather than a social graph, and there is no number, username or ID for anyone to subpoena, leak or correlate. Its code is open and has been through published audits.
That purity has edges. Backups and device changes demand more care than a cloud account, and onboarding a non technical friend takes a guided ten minutes, not ten seconds. For people whose risk is metadata (who they talk to, and when) rather than content, SimpleX is the strongest design on this page and it is completely free.
What we like- No user identifiers at all: connections are pairwise and unidirectional, open source, with independent security audits published, supports self hosted relays for full control, text, voice, video and groups are all built in
Watch out for- No account to recover: lose the device carelessly, lose the chats, contact exchange uses links or QR codes rather than discovery, the design's strictness creates small daily frictions, still a small community compared with any mainstream app
Starting price$5.99
Free planNo
Threema is the civilised option: a properly built, good looking messenger from Switzerland that charges a few dollars once instead of mining anything. Registration needs no number, encryption is on everywhere by default, and the company submits to external audits and publishes the results. For a family or a small professional circle, it feels like a product, not a cause.
The friction is the price tag and the persuasion. Asking every contact to pay $5.99 for an app, however fair the model, loses people at the door in a way free rivals do not. Threema also keeps its server code closed, which purists mark against it. If your circle will pay for calm, audited, ad free privacy, this is the easiest recommendation here.
What we like- No phone number required
- Your Threema ID is random, Swiss company under Swiss privacy law, with servers in Switzerland, end to end encryption covers chats, calls and files, one off purchase, no subscription and no advertising
Watch out for- The app costs money in a category of free rivals, closed server side, though clients are open source and audited, group and broadcast features trail the biggest apps, your contacts still have to pay and install it
#4Element
Best for: Federated, self hostable messaging4.2/5 on
G2 (43 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit element.io
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Element is the flagship app for Matrix, an open network rather than a company. Anyone can run a server, servers federate, and a community or company can keep its messages on its own hardware while still talking to the wider network. For organisations, schools and governments reducing dependence on any single vendor, that structure is the whole argument, and public sector deployments across Europe prove it works at scale.
For a private individual, Element asks more of you: choose a server, mind the encryption settings, accept an interface built by engineers. The default public server is run by the Matrix foundation's team and works fine out of the box. Choose Element when federation and self hosting are the requirement; choose Session or SimpleX when personal metadata is the worry.
What we like- Built on the open Matrix protocol: no single company owns the network, you can self host a server for total control of your data, end to end encryption available and default in private rooms, bridges and integrations suit communities and organisations
Watch out for- Encryption defaults and room settings need a careful first setup, the app experience is heavier and more technical than Signal, metadata sits on whichever server hosts the room, experience varies across the many Matrix clients
#5Wire
Best for: Business grade privacy and teams4.2/5 on
G2 (62 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit wire.com
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Wire began as a consumer messenger from people who built Skype, then pivoted to selling privacy to organisations. The result is a polished, encrypted messenger with a serious business tier: team accounts, guest access for clients, and compliance features, under a European company with open source clients and published audits. Personal use is free.
Its identifier policy is the compromise to note: an account needs an email address or a phone number, so Wire does not chase the anonymity end of this list. What it offers instead is respectability: the messenger a law firm or a clinic can adopt without frightening its IT review. If your Signal alternative must pass a procurement meeting, Wire is the one that will.
What we like- End to end encryption on messages, calls and files by default, built for teams, with guest rooms and external collaboration, European company with open source clients and audits, free personal tier, paid tiers for companies
Watch out for- Requires an email or number to register, unlike Session, smaller consumer network than the chat giants, enterprise focus means consumer features move slowly
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Briar is the extreme end of this category and knows it. Messages travel device to device through the Tor network, and when there is no internet at all, over local Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. There is no server to seize, no account to identify, and nothing to shut down. It was built for people whose governments turn the network off, and it has been used exactly there.
Nobody should choose Briar as a family messenger; it has no calls and asks contacts to be added carefully, often in person. Its presence on this list is as the reference point: if your threat model includes the network itself, this is the tool designed for you, free and open, and everything else here is a compromise with convenience.
What we like- Peer to peer over Tor, with no server involved at all, works over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when the internet is down or blocked, designed for activists and journalists in hostile conditions, open source and free, with no account identifiers
Watch out for- Android centred, with desktop in a supporting role, contacts must be added in person or by link exchange, deliberately minimal: no calls, no mainstream comforts, small groups by design, not by accident
#7WhatsApp
Best for: Reaching everyone, with encrypted chats4.6/5 on
G2 (250 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit whatsapp.com
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
WhatsApp belongs on an honest Signal alternatives list because it is the one your contacts will actually join, and its chat encryption is genuinely the Signal protocol, licensed and implemented at planetary scale. Messages, calls and media are end to end encrypted by default for personal chats. As a practical privacy upgrade over SMS or unencrypted apps, it is enormous.
The objection is everything around the content. Meta collects metadata, the pattern of your communication, and your identity is your phone number, tied to the world's largest social graph. Regulators on several continents spend their time policing exactly that boundary. Choose WhatsApp when reach is the priority and content secrecy is enough; choose anything above it when the pattern of your life is also private.
What we like- Chat content uses the Signal protocol, encrypted end to end by default, the network effect: nearly every contact already has it, calls, groups, channels and business messaging in one app, disappearing messages and locked chats add practical privacy
Watch out for- Owned by Meta: metadata about who you contact and when sits with an ad company, requires a phone number as your identity, backups need care to stay encrypted, and business chats play by different rules, privacy policy trust rests on Meta's word and regulators
How we chose
Tools were judged on the four axes in the introduction: default end to end encryption with published or audited code, the identifier demanded at signup, how much metadata a server can see or keep, and whether ordinary people will actually use the result. Signal itself was excluded as the subject of the search. Apps whose encryption is optional, off by default or closed and unaudited were left out, including one very popular name whose standard chats are not end to end encrypted; it is discussed in the FAQ rather than recommended here.
How to choose your Signal alternative honestly
Name your actual worry. If it is content secrecy, Signal already solved your problem and so does WhatsApp. If it is the phone number, Session and Threema remove it. If it is metadata, the map of your relationships, SimpleX and Session are designed for you, and nothing with a central account server fully is. If it is independence from any one company, Element's federation is the answer. Most failed switches come from choosing for someone else's threat model.
Count your people before your features. A messenger's value is the contacts inside it. Pick the strongest tool your five most important people will install, not the strongest tool in the abstract. For many families that lands on Threema or WhatsApp. For a newsroom desk it lands on Session or Signal itself. Both are correct answers to different questions.
Keep Signal during the move. Run both for a month, move groups deliberately, and tell people where to find you in your old status line. Privacy tools are abandoned in the first silent week more than in any security review, and a slow migration with company beats a pure one that ends with you talking to yourself.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Telegram not on this list?
Because its standard chats are not end to end encrypted. Telegram's cloud chats are encrypted between you and Telegram's servers, which means the company can read them; only its optional Secret Chats are end to end, they are device specific, and groups never get them. As a social platform Telegram is enormous. As a Signal alternative judged on private messaging, it does not meet the bar the other entries clear by default.
Is WhatsApp really private if Meta owns it?
Your message content is protected by the Signal protocol for personal chats, and Meta states it cannot read them. What Meta does hold is metadata: your number, your contacts pattern, timing and device information, under its privacy policy. Whether that trade is acceptable depends on whether your risk is content, pattern, or both.
Which alternative needs no phone number at all?
Session, SimpleX, Threema and Briar all work without one: Session and SimpleX generate identifiers, Threema issues a random ID, and Briar has no accounts in the server sense at all. Element can also be used with an email rather than a number on most servers. Wire asks for an email or a number.
Can I move my Signal chats to an alternative?
Not in any complete, official way. The apps use different protocols, accounts and backup formats, so history does not transfer. People usually start fresh, keep Signal installed during a transition month, and export anything truly important as files or notes before they close the old account.
Which is best for a family group chat?
Threema if the family will pay a few dollars each and wants a calm, private, ad free app; WhatsApp if they will not move at all and content encryption is enough. Session and SimpleX delight the one technical relative and quietly lose everyone else, which is a worse outcome for the family's actual privacy.
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Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.