# Confer

21 Hacker News commenters recommended Confer and 20 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as an AI chat service built to keep conversations private, with the approach seen as a real improvement over typical AI APIs. Critics say the server still decrypts data and users must trust Confer.

## Why people recommend it

- Stronger privacy than mainstream AI services (5 comments): "it's still a distinct threat model from "we use the API of a company run by one of the least trustworthy humans on the planet."" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46611946)) "Feels like what Confer does it better than the current situation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47449148)) "AI services with better privacy than the mainstream ones" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50313795))
- Attested server approach seen as pragmatic (3 comments): "tees and remote attestation are a pretty pragmatic solution here that meaningfully improves on the current state of the art" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46607062)) "generally pretty well thought out, doesn't get us to an entirely 0-trust e2e solution, but is still very good" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46608828)) "Using remote attestation in the browser to attest the server rather than the client is refreshing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46602300))
- Built by Signal creator Moxie Marlinspike (4 comments): "I quite like Moxie's Confer approach to just encrypt the whole thing in such a way that no one except the end-user sees the plaintext." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47909230)) "Moxie is a pragmatist who builds things that the average person can actually use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46646671)) "This already exists, confer.to, made by moxie (the guy that made Signal)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49983470))

## What people warn about

- Server still decrypts prompts and outputs (4 comments): "if it's not hallucinating, the backend server indeed decrypts the output of the LLM; only the user prompt is E2EEed against the server" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46792177)) "Even so, you're still exposing your data to Confer, and so you have to trust them that they'll behave as you want." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46606975)) "generally pretty well thought out, doesn't get us to an entirely 0-trust e2e solution, but is still very good" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46608828))
- Hard to verify privacy claims (5 comments): "it seems like I have to have a fair degree of knowledge and technical skill, not to mention time and effort, to confirm that everything is as they're representing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46609531)) "They don't list which models are available without going through the sign-up process." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49221123)) "they can't explain how the technology at the heart of their product works" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46437907))
- Relies on TEE hardware trust (3 comments): "It's a nice approach – if only Intel SGX were more trustworthy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47912552)) "Again with the confidential VM and remote attestation crypto theater?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46606325)) "doesn't seem to include in the attestation the model weights" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46608042))
- Passkey setup fails on some devices (4 comments): "I am unable to run it on my mac (passkey support)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46697387)) "So... does this just not support desktops without overpriced webcams, or am I missing something?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46607138)) "Authenticator did not return a PRF result — this passkey probably isn’t PRF-capable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47193722))

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://confer.to/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Confer", https://hackerapproved.com/p/confer/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).