Top 10 (Secure) Telegram Alternatives

After WhatsApp and Snapchat, Telegram is quickly gaining ground to become the world’s largest messenger app.

As of April 2025, Telegram has approximately a billion monthly users. In India, Telegram is reaching nearly 100 million users every month.

However, bigger products also mean bigger gaps in terms of features. Some users prefer richer navigation options, while others simply want a buffer against policy whiplash. 

The ten free services below cover those edges. Let’s dive in.

Quick-Glance Comparison

App	Monthly users/installs*	Security default	Distinct edge
FaceCall	100,000+ Android installs, 4.6⭐ rating	TLS in transit (E2E slated for late-2025)	Video Caller ID for first-impression branding
WhatsApp	≈2.9 billion MAU	End-to-end	Ubiquitous global reach
Signal	≈70 million MAU	End-to-end	No ads, no trackers
Discord	≈200 million MAU	Transport-layer TLS	Sub-100 ms voice latency
Viber	≈800 million MAU	End-to-end	Low-cost PSTN calling
Facebook Messenger	≈1 billion MAU	Opt-in end-to-end (rolling default)	Deep social-commerce hooks
LINE	178 million MAU	End-to-end	Built-in payments & mini-apps
Element (Matrix)	≈125 million IDs	End-to-end	Self-host, federation
Wire	500,000 consumers / 1,800+ enterprises	End-to-end (MLS-ready)	Audit-grade logs
Session	1 million users	Onion-routed, no phone	Zero metadata

*MAU = monthly active users. Counts are rounded to the nearest meaningful figure from company disclosures or third-party estimates (Statista, Data.ai, SimilarWeb).

A deep dive into the top 10 alternatives and competitors to Telegram

• Telegram is the most popular messaging app in countries like Iran and Uzbekistan
• Telegram has been downloaded more than two billion times, with 420 million downloads in 2023 alone
• Telegram has a 56.9% male audience and a 43% female audience.

• Telegram has 1 billion monthly active users
• Telegram has 10 million paying users for its optional subscription service
• The average Telegram user spends nearly 4 hours 25 minutes on the app monthly

1. FaceCall

If you’re searching for the only app that has a dedicated video caller ID, FaceCall is the app you should be downloading right away.

FaceCall is built for consultants, coaches, and boutique agencies that win business face-to-face. With over 100,000 installs and an average 4.6-star rating across Google Play and the App Store, FaceCall is one of the top Telegram alternatives. 

FaceCall’s signature Video Caller ID lets you record a 20-second intro clip that plays before the recipient picks up. This is pretty much a virtual handshake that beats a bland username. 

One-to-many video channels scale to 10,000 viewers, covering webinar-style launches without a separate tool. Traffic is TLS-encrypted and stored on U.S. servers. The app even supports group calls of up to 100 participants in 4K when bandwidth allows.

Features

• Video Caller ID and shareable video resume pages
• AI implementation feature for personalized video calls
• Short intro video clips for quick intros before a call
• Auto-translate feature for all calls 
• Group calls for up to 100 people
• Screen-share and recording baked into the call flow
• Explore feature to meet new people around the world
• Free & random video chat feature
• Avatar and video templates
  

Pros

• Memorable branding right in the ringtone
• Two-minute onboarding, no account gymnastics
• HD video quality holds even on mid-tier 4G
  

Cons

• No desktop client yet (as of July 2025)

2. WhatsApp

WhatsApp has been at the forefront of communication for a significant portion of people around the world.

The app remains the shortest path to almost any smartphone user on earth, logging roughly 2.9 billion monthly active users across 180 countries. 

End-to-end encryption covers every text, voice, and video call by default. WhatsApp has also introduced communities that allow up to 5000 people to join at once.

A May 2025 update lifted group video capacity to 32 seats, and the Communities layer now ties multiple groups under a single admin roof, perfect for school, district or franchise operations. 

Features

• Default E2E encryption across all media
• Four-device companion mode (no handset tether)
• Broadcast Channels for one-way announcements

Pros

• Virtually zero onboarding friction
• Reliable delivery on congested 3G or worse
• Official API supports scripted service flows

Cons

• Filled with too many adverts
• Very close to the interface of other Meta apps
• Backup encryption hinges on Google Drive or iCloud

3. Signal

Signal is the privacy yardstick for most consumers, and that’s exactly why they even prefer it in the first place.

Signal is open-source, nonprofit, and end-to-end encrypted. Around 70 million people use it each month. 

A January 2025 release of the app also introduced adding usernames, letting you hide your phone number inside group chats.

There’s also a feature called Sealed Sender, which strips routing metadata even from Signal’s own servers. Voice and video rides the same double-ratchet protocol that WhatsApp later adopted. 

Features

• Disappearing messages down to 30 seconds
• Local database lock plus screenshot alerts
• Works sans Google Play Services on forks like GrapheneOS

Pros

• No ads, no analytics
• Regularly audited cryptography
• Minimal metadata retained (only registration date and last use)

Cons

• Small group video ceiling
• Automation limited to CLI scripts

4. Discord

What began as a gamer lobby now powers classrooms, DAOs, and Fortune 500 communities. 

Roughly 200 million monthly active users rely on voice channels that deliver sub-100 ms latency, crucial for live events – all through Discord. 

The app has Stage Channels, which handle structured AMAs while streaming hits 4 K/60 fps if your hardware keeps up. 

Features

• Persistent voice rooms and threaded text
• Live screen-sharing with viewer hand-raise
• Rich SDK for bots, webhooks, and OAuth

Pros

• Voice/video rarely stutters, even on shaky Wi-Fi
• Massive third-party bot library for polls, tickets, or games
• Threads keep archives tidy without losing searchability

Cons

• No end-to-end encryption
• The interface can overwhelm non-technical users

5. Viber

Viber may fly under the radar in North America, yet it posts roughly 800 million monthly users, topping market share in Belarus, Greece, and Serbia. 

All chats and calls on this platform are end-to-end encrypted.

A Viber Out add-on lets you dial landlines at VoIP rates. Timed messages can self-delete as quickly as 10 seconds.

Features

• Up to 60-person group video calls
• Built-in business directory and branded sticker marketplace
• Community channels with unlimited members

Pros

• Deep penetration in Eastern Europe and parts of MENA
• Cheap PSTN calling slashes separate VoIP costs
• Commercial feeds can be muted in two taps

Cons

• Sticker promos can feel noisy in professional chats
• UI feels dated beside Signal or WhatsApp
  

6. Facebook Messenger

Meta keeps Messenger on more than a billion phones. 

DataReportal estimates about 1.01 billion monthly active users in early 2025, ranking it as the third-largest chat platform after WhatsApp and WeChat. 

End-to-end encryption is already available for one-to-one “secret chats” and is rolling out as the permanent default through 2025. For companies that sell or support through social channels, Messenger’s hand-off to Facebook Pages and Instagram DM eliminates the need for plug-ins or QR bridges. 

The trade-off is data exposure: usage patterns still feed Meta’s ad stack.

Features

• Cross-app inbox covering Instagram and Facebook
• 250-seat Rooms for webinars and live classes
• Native payments in the US and selected regions

Pros

• Giant installed base across every age bracket
• Mature bot platform for customer service flows
• Rich media options (AR filters, instant games)
  

Cons

• Metadata intertwined with meta-advertising
• Above-average battery drain on older Android devices

7. LINE

LINE owns the messaging market in Japan and holds strong positions in Thailand, Indonesia, and Taiwan. 

Business-of-Apps pegs the global count at ≈178 million monthly users, with 97 million in Japan alone, roughly 78 percent of the population. 

The app doubles as a super-app: mobile payments, food delivery, anime stickers, and “mini-apps” sit one tap from the chat pane. 

For brands, an official LINE account often beats email on open rate and response time. Encryption is on by default, but device linking can feel clunky compared with Telegram’s QR flow.

Features

• LINE Pay wallet and merchant coupons
• Timeline feed for news and promotions
• Creators’ Market for paid stickers and themes

Pros

• Near-universal reach in Japan and Thailand
• Integrated payments reduce checkout friction
• Regularly audited encryption scheme

Cons

• Onboarding friction for users outside Asia
• Sticker and ad notifications need manual pruning

8. Element (Matrix)

Element rides on the open Matrix protocol. 

A 2023 milestone press release positioned Matrix at 115 million unique IDs, and usage has continued to climb into 2025. 

Element offers polished face, desktop, mobile, and web clients, while letting enterprises self-host the server side for full key custody. 

Like email, Matrix lets you message anyone else on the network even if their account lives on a different server. 

Companies that care about privacy can set up their own Matrix server so every message stays on their own machines instead of a public cloud. With optional add-ons, Element can also pull your Slack, WhatsApp, and Telegram conversations into the same window. 

However, running your own server takes a bit of technical work; if that feels too heavy, you can simply use the public servers and start chatting right away.

Features

• End-to-end encrypted messaging, voice, and video
• Server-side retention rules per room
• Bridges for Slack, IRC, and WhatsApp

Pros

• Total data sovereignty—keys never leave your server
• No vendor lock-in thanks to open protocol
• Active development community and transparent roadmaps

Cons

• Higher RAM and CPU demand than SaaS chat
• The user interface feels busier than WhatsApp or Signal
  

9. Wire

Wire mainly focuses on the consumer tier. Yet its centre of gravity is enterprise and government. 

The firm reports 1,800+ organisations on the paid editions, with a consumer user base of just over half a million. 

In 2024, Wire became the first mainstream messenger to ship full Message Layer Security (MLS), making group re-keying near-instant even at thousands of participants.

Deployments span hosted cloud, private cloud, or on-prem, giving regulated industries a path to compliance without custom code.

Features

• Guest rooms for outside partners with revocable access
• Granular audit logs with tamper-evident hashes
• Optional Swiss or EU data residency

Pros

• GDPR, ISO 27001, and NIS2 alignment out of the box
• MLS removes the lag that plagues large encrypted groups
• Open-source clients allow independent code audits

Cons

• Small public network limits casual discovery
• Phone or email still required at sign-up
  

10. Session

Session is a privacy-first chat app that is precisely designed for people who don’t want any personal details tied to their messages. 

It passed the one-million-user mark in August 2024. Instead of a central server, Session moves every message through a chain of volunteer “service nodes,” so no single node knows both the sender and the receiver. 

You never hand over a phone number or email; the app creates a random Session ID for you. 

As far as the group chats are concerned, they can hold up to a hundred people, and voice and video calling are still in beta. The room sizes are smaller than WhatsApp’s, but for activists, journalists, or anyone who values anonymity over massive reach, that trade-off is worth it.

Features

• Onion-routed message delivery with no central logs
• Decentralized Service Nodes funded by community staking
• Built-in crypto wallet for optional tipping

Pros

• Zero-knowledge signup – no personal data collected
• Open-source with reproducible builds
• Works even behind aggressive firewalls via proxy modes

Cons

• Video quality still mixed in beta tests
• Feature parity on iOS trails the Android build

How to Choose the Best Alternative to Telegram?

A single chat app rarely covers every scenario. So, what app do you eventually choose?

Begin with the problem you’re trying to solve. If you want a stronger personal branding and friction-free video outreach, FaceCall should be topping your short list. It’s Video Caller ID and one-to-many broadcast room give consultants and creators a way to stand out before the call even starts, something Telegram and most rivals still lack. 

For mass adoption within large customer bases, WhatsApp’s scale matters more than any single feature, while Signal or Session suit conversations where anonymity outranks convenience. In most scenarios, FaceCall delivers the quickest win with the least compromise.

And what better way to equip yourself with these features than by trying the app?

Download FaceCall now and experience the next level of (secure) video calling. 🌟