Flotilla
Shares rank 40 of 48 messaging apps by recommenders
Free, optionally self-hosted Nostr chat app whose cryptographic identities prevent identity capture. Critics find it too corporate.
Free, optionally self-hosted Nostr chat app whose cryptographic identities prevent identity capture. Critics find it too corporate.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Open Nostr protocol, keypair identities
“uses cryptographic identities to prevent identity capture”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Discord Just Killed Anonymity” “FOSS, optionally self-hosted alternative built on nostr”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Feels too corporate in tone
“it does look a little too corporate for me though with the 'book a demo' and the focus on my 'mission'”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Discord Just Killed Anonymity”
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
6 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Think RSS readers, but for rich social media content.”
“Flotilla is an orchestration layer that creates a shared memory state between multiple models”
“it does look a little too corporate for me though with the 'book a demo' and the focus on my 'mission'”
“Chat is a tiny part of what people do with Discord and there are plenty of options already.”
“uses cryptographic identities to prevent identity capture”
“FOSS, optionally self-hosted alternative built on nostr”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.