Matrix and Element: a free and sovereign alternative to Slack, Teams and Discord

Introduction

Team messaging tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams or Discord have become ubiquitous in businesses and non-profits. They make real-time collaboration easy, but their proprietary and centralized nature raises concerns: where does our data go? Who has access to it? How much does it cost over the long term? In Quebec, more and more managers attentive to digital independence are looking for solutions that give them greater control.

In this article, we introduce you to Matrix, an open communication protocol, along with Element – its main client – and other derived applications (Cinny, FluffyChat, SchildiChat, etc.). These free/libre tools are viable alternatives to proprietary platforms, offering greater respect for privacy, data sovereignty, flexibility and longevity, all without major compromises on features. About 2,000 words to cover the topic in an educational and accessible way, without condescension, so you can understand how Matrix & Element can be “the free/libre path” for your internal communications.

What is Matrix?

Matrix is an open, decentralized standard protocol for real-time communication. In concrete terms, it is an instant-messaging network that works somewhat like email: any organization or provider can host a Matrix server (called a homeserver), and users on different servers can freely communicate with one another.

This federated approach stands in contrast to closed systems like Slack or Teams, where all your conversations pass through the servers of a single company. With Matrix, there is no single point of control: the network is spread across many servers that talk to one another via the Matrix protocol.

For users, Matrix makes it possible to exchange text messages asynchronously or in real time, to create chat rooms (the equivalent of Slack/Teams channels), to make audio/video calls and even to share files – all with the option of enabling end-to-end encryption to guarantee confidentiality. Matrix is not an application in itself, but rather the underlying technology (somewhat like the SMTP email protocol). There are then several applications (clients) for using Matrix, the main one being Element.

Element: the main Matrix client

Element is the flagship application developed by the creators of the Matrix protocol. It is an open source and cross-platform messaging client (available on web, desktop and mobile) that lets you connect to the Matrix universe. Element offers a modern, full-featured interface to chat in real time, collaborate and share documents within a team, a project or a community.

Among Element’s features, you will find:

• private or public rooms (channels) for discussion, with threads to keep conversations organized;
• direct instant messaging (DM) between colleagues, with the ability to add emoji reactions, mentions, and so on;
• file sharing and search within the message history;
• voice and video calls (integrating Jitsi for video, for example) to hold online meetings or talk face to face;
• end-to-end encryption support by default for private conversations, ensuring that only the participants can read the messages (not even the server administrator can access them in plain text).

As a free/libre solution, Element can be used in several ways. You can open a free account (for example on the public Matrix.org server) and start using it like any other chat. For organizations, Element is flexible: you can self-host your own Matrix server with Element to keep your data “at home,” or go through a provider (for example Element Matrix Services or other local hosts) for a managed cloud solution. In every case, your data stays under your control and can be migrated if needed. Element was designed from the ground up to comply with the GDPR and with the security compliance requirements of businesses and governments.

Because Element is open source, its code is transparent and auditable. This transparency strengthens trust in the tool, unlike proprietary applications where you know nothing about how data is actually handled. In fact, Element is already used by leading organizations: for example, the French government developed Tchap, its internal secure messaging system for 300,000 public servants, based on the Matrix protocol and an adaptation of Element. If such institutions trust Matrix/Element for their sensitive communications, that is a testament to the solution’s maturity and reliability.

Other popular Matrix clients

One of Matrix’s strengths is its ecosystem. Being an open standard, many developers have created client applications offering varied experiences while connecting to the same Matrix network. This means you are not limited to a single imposed interface (unlike Slack or Teams, which have only one official client). Everyone can choose the Matrix client whose ergonomics suit them best, while still communicating with the same people. Here are a few examples of popular Matrix clients besides Element:

• Cinny – A Matrix client focused on the simplicity and elegance of its interface. Accessible via a web browser or as a desktop application, Cinny offers a clean, easy-to-learn experience, ideal for users who want messaging without needless complexity while still benefiting from Matrix’s security.
• FluffyChat – Nicknamed “the cutest messenger,” FluffyChat is a friendly, cross-platform Matrix application. Available on mobile (Android/iOS) and desktop, it offers a colourful, playful interface, fairly close to a consumer messaging app. Its goal is to make Matrix accessible to as many people as possible, including those who are not tech-savvy, while remaining open source and encrypted.
• SchildiChat – This is a modified version of Element offering a more traditional messaging experience. SchildiChat builds on Element’s solid foundation but adds interface tweaks and extra features to bring it closer to the conventions of classic messaging apps (a more compact layout, inline image previews, custom emoji, etc.). This client will appeal to those who were used to the ergonomics of IRC, WhatsApp or other chats and who want to find those familiar cues in Matrix.

(Many other Matrix clients exist – e.g. NeoChat for the KDE environment, Nheko on desktop, ElementX on mobile, etc. – but let’s stick to the ones mentioned for now.)

The advantage of this diversity is flexibility: your team members can use different applications depending on their preferences or devices, while remaining in the same Matrix rooms. A developer on a PC might use Element or SchildiChat, while another user on their phone prefers FluffyChat – all of them taking part in the same conversations without barriers. By contrast, in the Slack/Teams ecosystem, you are confined to the official client imposed by the vendor. This richness of the Matrix ecosystem also demonstrates the protocol’s longevity and openness: the community can innovate and create new tools without the permission of a central company.

Respect for privacy

On the criterion of privacy, Matrix solutions clearly stand out from proprietary platforms.

Matrix/Element was designed with confidentiality in mind, with end-to-end encryption available everywhere, whereas Slack, Teams and Discord take far more lax approaches.

• Encrypted communications: By default, private messages (and encrypted rooms) in Element are end-to-end encrypted. This means that no one outside the participants (neither the host, nor a system administrator, nor a third party) can read the content of the exchanges. Your sensitive work conversations therefore remain confidential. In contrast, Slack and Microsoft Teams do not offer end-to-end encryption for messaging: the data is encrypted on their servers, but the company operating the service holds the key and can technically access the content. Microsoft Teams did introduce an E2EE option, but it is limited to one-to-one calls and is not enabled by default – the vast majority of text exchanges on Teams remain in plain text for Microsoft. Discord, for its part, offers no E2EE whatsoever: all the private messages you send pass in plain text through its servers. Worse still, Discord admits to automatically scanning the content of private conversations (for moderation or malware detection purposes), which shows a blatant disregard for its users’ privacy. With Matrix, this kind of intrusive scanning does not exist: if you host your own server, you have the assurance that no foreign bot is reading your communications, and even on a public server, end-to-end encryption prevents any unwanted reading.
• No tracking or advertising: Matrix and its clients like Element or FluffyChat are free/libre software funded by donations, support or pro offerings, with no advertising model. There are no hidden marketing trackers and no user profiling to sell data. On the contrary, the open code guarantees that no abusive collection is carried out without your knowledge. Slack and Teams, although B2B-oriented and not ad-funded, belong to large groups (Salesforce for Slack, Microsoft for Teams) whose model is to lock the user into an ecosystem. While they won’t display ads in your chats, they nonetheless collect metadata (who talks to whom, when, etc.) and usage statistics, and integrate their services with other products (e.g. Microsoft Graph) that can use this data. Discord, for its part, is free and must monetize its platform somehow: it does so through Nitro subscriptions, but also potentially by exploiting community data (engagement analytics, etc.). In short, on Matrix your data is not a commodity. You do not become the product, unlike free consumer solutions.
• Access control and local moderation: With Matrix, each organization can define its own moderation rules on its server or in its rooms. You are not subject to usage policies dictated by a third-party company for all of its customers. On Slack or Discord, if the platform decides to ban certain content or even suspend an account, you are subject to that decision with no recourse. On your Matrix server, you are the master of the accounts and the data. This independence proves important for non-profits, for example, which might fear that an outside provider could access or censor certain discussions deemed not to comply with its terms of use (think of political or social issues). Matrix hands you back the keys to the house.

Data sovereignty

The principle of data sovereignty consists of keeping control over where and how your information is stored. On this point, Matrix/Element offers a level of control unmatched by Slack, Teams or Discord.

• Local hosting or choice of country: With Matrix, you have the freedom to host the messaging server wherever you want. You can install a Matrix server (such as Synapse, the reference implementation) on your own machines on your premises, or with a trusted host of your choosing – for example a data centre in Quebec, or any other location that meets your criteria (jurisdiction, certifications, etc.). You can also opt for a managed cloud offering (Element offers SaaS called Element Cloud or EMS, for instance), while still keeping portability: your data stays on a dedicated server that you can migrate later. Simply put, your messages belong to you and you decide where they physically reside. Conversely, if you use Slack or Teams, your data is automatically hosted on the provider’s infrastructure (mainly in the United States, except for specific options). Slack introduced the ability to choose the storage region for Enterprise customers, but this remains limited to certain countries and, in any case, your data stays within the Slack/Salesforce fold. For a Quebec organization concerned that its communications remain in Canada or outside the American Cloud Act, proprietary solutions pose a problem: there is no “self-hosted” version of Slack/Teams, everything goes through their servers. Discord, for its part, is entirely hosted by Discord Inc. in the United States: no control over location is possible.
• Independence from the tech giants: Using Matrix means choosing a non-GAFAM tool. This may seem symbolic, but for many SMEs and non-profits, avoiding constant reliance on the same big players (Microsoft, Salesforce, etc.) is an act of digital independence. It also means that your data will not be automatically subject to foreign laws like the Patriot Act or the Cloud Act, which can compel an American provider to disclose hosted data, including that of companies in another country. By hosting Matrix on a Canadian or European server, you remain sovereign: your data falls under the local jurisdiction that you have chosen. Even in the case of cloud hosting managed by Element or a third party, there are specific offerings that guarantee a chosen location (for example, Element offers hosting on servers in France or Germany for European customers, to meet GDPR requirements). This flexibility is non-existent in the Slack/Teams/Discord world, where you accept the provider’s terms by default.
• No barrier to exit: Sovereignty also means being able to retrieve and migrate your data easily. Thanks to Matrix, if one day you decide to change hosts or merge your communications with another instance, it is doable because everything rests on an open standard. Historical data can be exported and re-imported into another Matrix server without loss of functionality. You are not locked into an opaque proprietary format. Try to export your full Slack message history to inject it into Teams or vice versa: a near-impossible mission (each platform has a different format, and exports are limited). Slack allows partial exports (on paid plans, and even then with constraints) that often cannot be cleanly imported elsewhere. With Matrix, portability is part of the project’s philosophy: your data follows you.

In short, Matrix+Element give you full control over your communication data. It is no longer in a “black box” held by a provider, but in your hands, with the ability to use it as you see fit. For organizations that value digital sovereignty (think in particular of public institutions, universities, or businesses handling sensitive information), this is a decisive advantage.

Cost

The business model and the financial cost are important practical factors in choosing a collaboration tool. Let’s compare how Matrix/Element and proprietary solutions stack up on this front.

• Software licence: Matrix and its clients (Element and others) are free and open source software. There is no per-user licence cost. You can deploy a Matrix server in-house without paying any software royalty to a vendor. Likewise, the client applications are free to install and use. By contrast, Slack and Microsoft Teams run on subscriptions: Slack offers a very limited free version (more on that just below) and paid per-user plans (over US$8 per user/month for the standard Pro plan). Microsoft Teams is included in paid Microsoft 365 offerings or available as a standalone paid plan for businesses, which also represents a per-user cost. Discord is a bit different: the application itself is free for everyone, since it primarily targets the general public, but it offers Nitro subscriptions to unlock secondary features. However, Discord has no per-business billing model; this also means that if you need support or specific features for professional use, you don’t really have a dedicated Business offering – it’s a generic “free” service.
• Infrastructure costs: If you opt for self-hosted Matrix, you must of course plan for the cost of a server (physical or virtual) and the maintenance time. For a small team, this can boil down to a simple cloud VPS at a few dozen dollars a month, or even the use of a shared server. Technically savvy non-profits have managed to host their own free/libre tools on a modest budget. Alternatively, you can go through a managed Matrix hosting service: for example, Element sells Element Matrix Services (EMS) offerings where, for an overall monthly fee, they take care of everything (maintenance, updates, etc.), often at a cost lower than equivalent Slack licences once you have many users. Slack/Teams, on top of their licences, force you into cloud hosting with them anyway – the infrastructure cost is built into the subscription, but you have no way to optimize it or shop around. For very large teams, Slack/Teams subscriptions can amount to considerable sums each year, whereas a self-hosted Matrix solution could end up much cheaper once the infrastructure is amortized.
• Free vs. paid version: It is tempting for small organizations to use the free versions of Slack or Teams to avoid costs. However, these “freemium” versions come with significant limitations. For example, Slack’s free tier limits access to history: only the last 90 days of messages can be viewed, the rest is archived out of reach (the limit used to be 10,000 messages, now it’s 90 chronological days) – which can be a problem for finding past information or simply keeping organizational memory beyond three months. In addition, free Slack also restricts features such as calls (limited to one-to-one calls, no team meetings, no screen sharing, etc.). Microsoft Teams also offers a free version, but one geared toward personal or very-small-business use: it limits the duration of group meetings (60 minutes max), the number of participants, the storage space, and does not include advanced integrations with Outlook/Calendar or centralized user management. Simply put, the free versions of these services are stripped of features and often insufficient for serious professional use over the long term. Many non-profits thus started on a free Slack only to realize that their discussion history vanishes and that they have to pay up.

With Matrix/Element, there is no crippled version: you have the full set of features from the start, without artificial limits on messages or users. Cost may come from hosting (if you take a dedicated server or a cloud offering), but this cost is generally fixed and not proportional to the number of users or messages. A small association can run perfectly well on a low-cost shared server, while a 500-person company runs on a beefier server – each paying according to the resources consumed, not a per-head licence. This cost control is an advantage, all the more so because it avoids nasty budget surprises (no sudden price increases decided unilaterally by an outside provider). Finally, when resources are limited, an organization can always join a public or community Matrix server for free to test the concept, then migrate to its own instance later: the financial barrier to entry is very low compared with proprietary solutions.

Key features

A good collaboration tool must cover a set of key features to be usable day to day. You often hear “sure, but Slack/Teams have feature X or Y that’s handy, does Matrix have them too?” The answer is broadly yes: Matrix, via Element and the like, offers the essentials (and sometimes more), even if the approach may differ slightly. Let’s compare the main points:

• Structured group messaging: Slack, Teams and Discord let you create channels or rooms to organize discussions by project, team or topic. Matrix offers the same thing through rooms (also called rooms). You can make a room private (by invitation) or public. A newer feature of Matrix is the notion of Spaces, which lets you group several rooms under a category (a bit like an “organization” containing several channels, reminiscent of Discord servers or Microsoft Teams teams). In short, conversation structuring very much exists in Matrix: your employees won’t be lost if they come from Slack, they’ll find the same logic of #channels and threads.
• Threads and reactions: On Slack and Teams, thread management is crucial to avoid mixing up all the conversations. Discord added it later (the ability to create a thread from a message). Element now supports threads in Matrix rooms, in a very similar way: you can reply in a thread to a message and that parallel discussion stays attached. Reactions (emoji on a message) are also supported in Matrix. On the convenience side, you therefore find these familiar elements for keeping exchanges legible.
• Voice and video calls: Microsoft Teams is particularly known for video conferencing (with calendar integration, screen sharing, etc.), Slack offers audio/video calls (limited on the free tier), and Discord excels at persistent voice rooms for chatting by voice (originally used by gamers). Matrix also lets you make voice and video calls. In practice, Element integrates voice over IP and can be combined with Jitsi servers for group video. You can absolutely organize encrypted video meetings of several dozen people through a Matrix room. Screen sharing is possible via conference widgets. Honestly, on this point Teams retains a slight edge in user experience for large conferences (natively integrated, recording possible, etc.), but the gap is closing rapidly with each version of Element. For day-to-day team coordination, Matrix does the job very well on audio/video.
• File sharing and search: A team chat is often used to exchange documents, images, links, etc. Slack and Teams offer file storage (with quota limits depending on the plan) and a global search function to find messages or files by keyword. Matrix/Element allows file sharing in rooms and conversations, with a configurable size limit (often between 50 MB and 100 MB per file on public servers, but you can raise it if you self-host). Files can be encrypted too when sent. Full-text search in the history is available in Element, including in encrypted rooms (where the search is performed client-side). So from this standpoint, the user experience is comparable: you can send that PDF in the chat and find it again later via search.
• Integrations and bots: One area where Slack has shone is its ecosystem of third-party apps and bots (integration with Google Drive, Trello, polls, etc.). Teams also integrates with the Office suite (OneDrive document sharing, Office 365 co-editing, Planner, etc.). Discord has community bots to add fun or moderation features. What about Matrix? Here again, Matrix does not lack flexibility: there are bridges and bots to connect Matrix to a multitude of tools or other networks. For example, you can set up a Matrix–Slack bridge to link a Slack channel with a Matrix room (handy during a transition period or to communicate with an external partner on Slack without leaving your Matrix environment). Bridges also exist to Teams, to Discord, Telegram, and many others – that’s the advantage of an open system, the community has developed these connectors. For business applications, Matrix offers standard webhooks and bots capable of reacting to events (communicating with GitLab, Jenkins, receiving form notifications, etc.). Granted, the offering of “ready-to-use” apps is less marketed than the Slack App Directory catalogue, but in practice everything is doable with a little configuration. And above all, Matrix has the enormous advantage of being able to federate several platforms: it is really the only one where, for example, a user on Element can chat with a colleague on WhatsApp or Telegram via a bridge (without that colleague needing a Matrix account). For an organization, this offers unique interoperability, where Slack and Teams instead seek to keep you captive in their ecosystem.

To sum up, on the essential collaboration features, Matrix/Element ticks practically every box: structured group messaging (with threads), DMs, files, calls, integrations. There is no major showstopper missing. It should be noted that the ergonomics and maturity of certain functions may differ (e.g. the Teams interface for video or editing Office documents is very advanced, because it’s the Microsoft suite; Element is more focused on pure messaging and relies on external tools for co-editing). However, for a standard SME or non-profit looking above all for a modern team chat, Element offers everything you need. And improvements arrive continuously thanks to open source development and community contributions.

Flexibility and integrations

We have already touched on this topic when discussing the various Matrix clients and bridges: flexibility is truly an area where Matrix surpasses proprietary solutions.

• Choice of user interface: As we’ve seen, Matrix does not impose a single client. This modularity makes it possible to adapt the tool to varied uses. For example, a technically oriented team can develop its own custom client using the Matrix libraries (there are SDKs in various languages) – a near-impossible mission with Slack or Teams, where any development is done through limited APIs. Specialized clients can emerge: one for lightweight mobiles, one for accessibility, etc., without fragmenting the network since everything remains compatible. It’s a bit like the web: you can use the browser of your choice to access a site. This freedom of choice is very valuable for adapting to user preferences and improving internal adoption of the tool.
• Customization and extensibility: Since Matrix is open source, you can customize the tool deeply. Need to add a poll plugin in Element? You can develop a widget. Want to integrate messaging into your internal business application? Matrix’s open APIs make it possible. Some companies have, for example, integrated Matrix as the foundation of their customer support or their community, themed in their own colours. By contrast, proprietary solutions are often black boxes that cannot be modified – you wait for official updates and are limited to the integrations they offer. Slack certainly offers many “small” integrations (calendar, GIFs, etc.), but you remain within the framework Slack provides. Matrix gives access to the whole toolkit: you can host several bots, connect your information systems (CRM, monitoring, etc.) so they send notifications into your Matrix rooms, etc., without asking a third-party provider for permission. This interoperability is in Matrix’s DNA.
• Cross-platform interoperability: A special word on bridges (gateways) because this is a flexibility unique to Matrix. Imagine your organization works with an external partner that already uses Slack and doesn’t want to switch: with Matrix, you could connect one of your Element rooms to their Slack channel via a bridge, and so every message posted on one side appears on the other, and vice versa. This lets everyone use their preferred tool while communicating together. Such bridges also exist for Microsoft Teams, Discord, Telegram, Signal, and even older protocols like IRC or XMPP. None of the proprietary competitors offer this – they have no interest in making exchanges outside their platform easier. Matrix, on the other hand, embraces this open philosophy (it’s often compared to “the SMTP of instant messaging,” that is, a universal foundation). For SMEs collaborating with various players, this interoperability can simplify life: no more juggling between five different chat applications, Matrix can serve as a central hub.

In short, Matrix offers flexibility both at the technical level (choice of client, customization, self-hosting vs. cloud, etc.) and at the functional level (multiple integrations, bridges between tools). This flexibility lets you adapt the messaging tool to your needs, rather than adapting your processes to the constraints of an imposed tool.

Longevity and durability

Finally, let’s talk about longevity. Choosing a communication tool means investing time and money in an ecosystem – better that it lasts and stays reliable over time. From this standpoint, Matrix/Element offers guarantees that no proprietary service can match, thanks to its open model.

• No risk of abrupt shutdown: When you depend on a proprietary platform, you are exposed to its commercial fate. If tomorrow Slack decides to drastically change its pricing, or worse, shuts its doors, your data and your workflow are stuck. We’ve seen cases where heavily used tools disappeared following an acquisition or a vendor’s strategy. With Matrix, this risk is minimized: since the protocol is open and implemented by many servers, no single entity can “switch off” Matrix. Even if the company Element (behind the main development) were to disappear, the code is free/libre and the community could keep it alive. This is similar to projects like Linux or WordPress that continue independently of any single company. Moreover, you can host your own instance: as long as you maintain your server, your communications stay online. This is a far cry from the centralized model where a single point of failure exists (for example, the worldwide Facebook outage in October 2021 that made Messenger/WhatsApp inaccessible – a self-hosted Matrix server would not have been affected by another server’s outage).
• Scalability and community: Matrix is supported by a vast international community of developers and users. This means the protocol evolves transparently (Matrix 2.0 is already being discussed, with improvements underway) and that new features appear continuously, driven by real-world needs. You are not at the mercy of a vendor’s opaque roadmap. For example, the Matrix community identified the need for threads and implemented it in the specification, likewise for reactions, and so on. Updates are frequent and the improvements come from open collaboration (companies, individuals and institutions all contribute together). This dynamic ensures that Matrix stays modern and durable. By contrast, closed products can stagnate if the company decides to stop investing much in them (or to replace them with another: who remembers Skype for Business, replaced by Teams?). With Matrix, no “forced change”: the standard improves while maintaining backward compatibility.
• Freedom to migrate and adapt in the future: Adopting Matrix today means securing the freedom to evolve it according to your future. Are you growing and want to move from a public cloud to a dedicated server? Possible. Are you merging with a partner that also has a Matrix server? You can federate or combine the two. Do you need a specific feature in three years? Maybe the community will already have added it, otherwise your developers can contribute to building it. In short, it’s a lasting investment because everything built on an open standard is interoperable over the long term. Conversely, locking your communications in a proprietary silo means betting that it will still be around in 5 or 10 years and still suited to your needs – a risky bet in the fast-paced tech era. Betting on Matrix is a bit like betting on web standards or email: we know that whatever happens, our data will remain accessible and the format will stay usable.

To sum up this comparison on longevity: Matrix offers peace of mind. Your efforts to build a base of knowledge and exchanges through this messaging tool will not be wiped out by a provider’s decision. On the contrary, you have the guarantee that your communications belong to you over time, and that the open ecosystem will keep helping them thrive.

Comparison table

To better visualize the differences discussed, here is a concise comparison table between Matrix-based solutions (e.g. Element and its derivatives) and the popular proprietary platforms, namely Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord. This table assesses several key criteria using a simple visual code: ✅ for a positive presence/advantage of the criterion, 🚫 for an absence/limitation of the criterion.

Note: This table presents a general view. Each solution has its nuances (e.g. Slack offers fine-grained integration management through its App Directory, and Discord is free but at the cost of weaker confidentiality). Nonetheless, it clearly illustrates how Matrix/Element comes out ahead on the issues of sovereignty, control and openness, without falling short on basic features.

Conclusion

Faced with the apparent monopoly of tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams or Discord, it is reassuring to know that there is a credible, robust alternative that respects your values: the Matrix + Element duo, accompanied by a whole ecosystem of innovative clients. For a Quebec SME or non-profit keen to protect its data, control its costs and avoid dependence on the tech giants, adopting Matrix is a step toward digital freedom without sacrificing efficiency.

By choosing Matrix/Element, you opt for:

• Independence: your communications, your rules, without being bound hand and foot to the terms of a multinational.
• Confidentiality: a truly private messaging tool where your discussions stay between you.
• Control over your data: host locally if you wish, keep your entire history, change hosts freely – your data belongs to you.
• Openness: an interoperable tool that fits into your environment rather than imposing its own, and a community ready to innovate continuously.
• Savings: no per-user licences, the option to use free or low-cost solutions, all while avoiding the frustrating limitations of freemium offerings.

Of course, any transition requires a bit of support (user training, possibly the technical setup of the Matrix server). But the effort is worth it: you’ll build a lasting communication system aligned with your principles, that will keep growing with you. Moreover, the Matrix community is very active: documentation, guides and mutual-help forums exist (often in French) to assist you at every step.

In conclusion, Matrix, Element and the free/libre clients that stem from them now represent a mature alternative to the Slacks, Teamses and Discords of this world. They embody a vision where technology serves the user and not the other way around, where digital sovereignty is not just a slogan but a technical reality. Don’t hesitate to try these tools – for example by installing Element and joining a few public rooms – to form your own opinion. You might well discover that, once freed from proprietary chains, your team communications gain in autonomy, security and peace of mind. 🚀

Sources and bibliography

• Matrix (protocol) – Wikipedia page (fr). General description of the Matrix protocol and its decentralized operation. Link: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(protocole)
• Slack – Pricing (free offering) – Official Slack page indicating the limitations of the free plan (message history limited to 90 days, etc.). Link: https://slack.com/intl/fr-fr/pricing
• SILEXO – Souveraineté numérique : 40 alternatives aux logiciels américains (2023). Article presenting sovereign solutions including Element/Matrix, with details on encryption, hosting and the example of the French government (Tchap). Link: https://silexo.fr/article/130/souverainete-numerique-40-alternatives-aux-logiciels-americains
• Element Blog – Microsoft Teams and Slack integration using Matrix (article from May 24, 2021). Explains how Matrix can bridge Teams and Slack, and highlights the absence of E2EE and data sovereignty in the latter compared with Matrix. Link: https://element.io/blog/microsoft-teams-and-slack-integration-using-matrix/
• JoinMatrix.org – Matrix vs. Discord (Comparison guide, 2023). Details why Matrix is an alternative to Discord by addressing aspects of privacy (absence of encryption and content scanning on Discord), data control and features. Link: https://joinmatrix.org/guide/matrix-vs-discord/
• Matrix.org – Matrix clients. Official directory of Matrix clients with descriptions of Cinny, FluffyChat, SchildiChat, etc. Link: https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/