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Element vs Telegram Desktop: catalog facts
Element	Telegram Desktop
Freemium The client is free and open source under the AGPL 3.0. Element Matrix Services sells…	Freemium Free to use. Telegram Premium is an optional subscription for larger uploads, faster…
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Web, Self-hosted	Windows, macOS, Linux
End-to-end encryption with cross-signed device verification Federated, so you can run your own server and still reach everyone	Official client with published source and build instructions Cloud chats sync instantly across every device you sign in on
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	Ordinary chats are not end-to-end encrypted and Telegram holds the keys Secret chats are not available in the desktop client
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: AGPL-3.0	License: GPL-3.0
Account needed	Account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

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