Alternatives to WeChat
Tencent's messaging app with chats, voice and video calls, Moments and mobile payments. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
WeChat
Tencent's messaging app with chats, voice and video calls, Moments and mobile payments.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as WeChat.
WhatsApp
An end-to-end encrypted messaging and calling app for phones, desktop computers and the web.
WhatsApp focuses on end-to-end encrypted messaging and calls with a very large global user base, without WeChat's payments and social feed.
LINE
A popular messaging app with free text messages, voice and video calls, and stickers.
LINE is another closed, centrally run messenger with calls and stickers, used mainly in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand and available only on phones.
Telegram Desktop
The official Telegram client for the desktop, with open source code and chats that are not end-to-end encrypted.
Telegram has open source clients, large groups, channels and bots, but ordinary chats are not end-to-end encrypted and it lacks payments.
Signal
An end-to-end encrypted messenger for calls and chats on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Linux, run by a nonprofit.
Signal is open source, run by a nonprofit and end-to-end encrypts all messages and calls, but has no social feed or payments.
Viber
A messaging and calling app with group chats, stickers and public communities, synced across devices.
Viber offers calls, group chats and public communities with device sync, and is likewise proprietary and centrally run.
Zalo
A Vietnamese messaging and calling app for phones and desktop computers, used by tens of millions.
Zalo is a closed-source messaging and calling app for mobile and desktop that is widely used in Vietnam rather than China.
Messenger
Meta's messaging and video calling service for chatting with Facebook friends and family.
Messenger reaches Facebook friends and works in a browser, but requires a Meta account and lacks the social feed and payments in one app.
Threema
Swiss encrypted messenger that works without a phone number or email.
Threema needs no phone number or email, has open source apps and a Swiss base, and requires a one-time purchase per platform.
Also worth comparing
These listings name WeChat as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Snapchat
A messaging app built around photo and video Snaps, chat, Stories and camera Lenses.
WeChat bundles chat, calls, a social feed and payments with a large user base in China, trading Snapchat's camera focus for a much broader closed source app.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Beeper
A unified chat app that brings WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Discord and other networks into one inbox.
Google Messages
Google's SMS and RCS texting app for phones, with a web client for texting from a computer.
Wire
End-to-end encrypted messaging, calls and file sharing for organisations.
Session
An encrypted messenger with no phone number and no account, routed through an onion network.
