Is Element free to use?

Yes, Element is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. You can use, modify, and distribute it freely within the terms of the license.

Can I self-host Element?

Yes, Element can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure, giving you full control over your data and deployment.

What does Element replace?

Element is an open source alternative to Slack and Zoom. It provides similar functionality while being free and community-driven.

How popular is Element?

Element has 13k stars on GitHub, indicating a strong and active community of users and contributors.

Element

Decentralized messaging app built on Matrix

AGPL-3.0Self-hostableTypeScriptReactMatrixCommunication

chatencrypteddecentralizedmatrix

Website GitHub Docs

Last updated: 2 days ago

13k

Stars

2.6k

Forks

331

Contributors

Apr 2026

Last Commit

Project Health

80/ 100

Excellent

Replaces These Proprietary Tools

Element can be used as an alternative to these commercial products.

Slack

Business messaging and team communication platform

freemium

Zoom

Video conferencing and online meeting platform

freemium

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