Delta Chat
Hacker ApprovedRanked 9 of 48 messaging apps by recommenders
Recommended as a private, encrypted messenger that runs over ordinary email and needs no phone number. Critics agree the interface is rough and less polished.
Recommended as a private, encrypted messenger that runs over ordinary email and needs no phone number. Critics agree the interface is rough and less polished.
56 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 48
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 48 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs over ordinary email servers
“piggiebacks on normal email infrastructure, making it really hard to block without massive collateral damage”
Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “European Commission Revives Push for Encryption Backdoors in ProtectEU Strategy” “it's essentially a chat client with all the features you would expect but using SMTP as the protocol”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “Leaving Mozilla” “its killer feature is inbox-fluidity due to only using them as dumb relays”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 on Hacker News - Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Writing a blatant Telegram clone using Qt, QML and Rust. And C++”
- Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Poor Johnny still won't encrypt”
- Comment from 30 Aug 2026 on Hacker News
Encrypted, private messaging
“It seems like a solid option if you want text only. Built on mail protocols, encrypted, allows for decentralization.”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Discord Alternatives, Ranked” “If you need decentralized messaging and not some cryptocoin front, Delta Chat is what you're looking for.”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Session is shutting down in 90 days” “Delta Chat has everything you could want in a private, secure messaging app.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Private Messaging App Isn't WhatsApp or Signal, It's Delta Chat” - Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable”
- Comment from 12 Jun 2026 in “The Future of Email”
Free and open source
“Delta.Chat is really underappreciated, open-source and distributed.”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “I announced my divorce on Instagram and then AI impersonated me” “have it by default for years without any payment requirements”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Registration without a phone number on Signal will use zero-knowledge proofs” “free and verifiable alternatives like Delta Chat and SimpleX”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable” Easy to use, works well
“it's a lot more "just works" than Matrix, still some limitations but improving quickly”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Verifying your Matrix devices is becoming mandatory” “It is easy, it works, bots are easy and the concept is improving.”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “Verifying your Matrix devices is becoming mandatory” “My family has found it to be super useful and effective.”
Comment from 29 Aug 2026 in “Tether: iMessage, SMS, etc. on Linux” - Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “The Death of Social Media Is the Renaissance of RSS”
- Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Molly: An Improved Signal App”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Interface feels rough or janky
“The Delta client is a bit UI/UX behind but not horrible”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “Self-hosting a Matrix server for 5 years” “Delta Chat does that but it's a bit janky.”
Comment from 28 Jun 2026 in “EU to legislate about Chat Control behind closed doors” “the poor UI / design makes the app unappealing.”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Registration without a phone number on Signal will use zero-knowledge proofs” Lacks forward secrecy, behind Signal
“Delta Chat seems promising, but does not support forward secrecy.”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “EU Council Approves New "Chat Control" Mandate Pushing Mass Surveillance” “Delta Chat is years behind Signal's protections”
Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in “Rubio Uses Terrorism Law to Ban Secure Email Service”
Other messaging apps people recommend
The four most recommended other messaging apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 48 messaging apps, rankedWhat people said
40 of the 66 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“free and verifiable alternatives like Delta Chat and SimpleX”
“provide a fallback (prior art: Delta Chat)”
“the poor UI / design makes the app unappealing.”
“have it by default for years without any payment requirements”
“piggiebacks on normal email infrastructure, making it really hard to block without massive collateral damage”
“It still works with regular mail servers”
“Not really the intended purpose but it's good enough for me!”
“My family has found it to be super useful and effective.”
“Delta Chat is years behind Signal's protections”
“UX feels less polished yet snappier than Element-Matrix and the project seems pretty active.”
“support displaying messages linearly, one below another, rather than one at a time”
“Delta Chat has everything you could want in a private, secure messaging app.”
“Delta Chat does that but it's a bit janky.”
“projects that work well in restricted enviroments that use iroh for some features”
“it's essentially a chat client with all the features you would expect but using SMTP as the protocol”
“it does GPG stuff quite comfortably”
“I recommend looking into Delta Chat (chatmail)”
“there still are a bunch of viable messaging apps/services that work without a phone number”
“deltachat users, which can be a solution too!”
“If you need decentralized messaging and not some cryptocoin front, Delta Chat is what you're looking for.”
“It’s been a great experience so far.”
“It seems like a solid option if you want text only. Built on mail protocols, encrypted, allows for decentralization.”
“The cryptography is sound, however, it's also frequently changing, in addition to straying from standards more or less.”
“DeltaChat has public keys, so I have 20 of them, and nobody can control who gets one”
“resilient to blocks if email partially works.”
“which makes them just another chat network which happens to be interoperable with classic emails”
“its killer feature is inbox-fluidity due to only using them as dumb relays”
“I do like Delta Chat on chatmail servers”
“Delta.Chat is really underappreciated, open-source and distributed.”
“I ended up using Delta Chat that uses your email server under the hood”
“I've been using DC for several years already to communicate with my family”
“If you want encrypted communication over email, there's DeltaChat.”
“The Delta client is a bit UI/UX behind but not horrible”
“work pretty well in my experience”
“DeltaChat and ArcaneChat are perfect companions for Tyr.”
“Delta Chat checks a lot of boxes along with user control and deployment of servers.”
“Delta Chat seems promising, but does not support forward secrecy.”
“it's a lot more "just works" than Matrix, still some limitations but improving quickly”
“It is easy, it works, bots are easy and the concept is improving.”
“it's incredibly friendly to get started, and hides the fact GPG tech is being used from the user”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.