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Element vs Faraday: catalog facts
Element	Faraday
Freemium The client is free and open source under the AGPL 3.0. Element Matrix Services sells…	Free Free and open source.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Web, Self-hosted	Android
End-to-end encryption with cross-signed device verification Federated, so you can run your own server and still reach everyone	Built for Matrix servers you run yourself Uses the decentralised Matrix protocol
Encryption key management confuses people the first time they log in on a new device Heavy on memory for a chat app, and slow with many large rooms	Android only Repository description and documentation are mostly in Russian
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: AGPL-3.0	License: AGPL-3.0
Account needed	Account needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.