People look for a WhatsApp alternative because the service belongs to Meta, needs a mobile phone number to register, and shares call and message metadata, device data and IP addresses with Meta companies. Some also want a messenger a company can administer. They move to Signal for the closest everyday swap, to Threema or Wire for work use, or to Session and Element when the phone number or the server is the problem.
Sebastiaan SmitsFounderShort answer: The first three alternatives to WhatsApp in our messaging apps ranking are Signal, Threema and Wire. Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. Choose Signal if you want the nearest everyday replacement and care that no company owns the service. All 11 alternatives below are ranked products from Best Messaging Apps in 2026, and each says where it differs from WhatsApp.
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WhatsApp's EEA privacy policy says message content is end-to-end encrypted, but the service collects call and message metadata, IP address and device data. Meta companies in the US and Ireland help operate the service, and Meta companies in the UK, Israel and the US receive phone number, device identifiers and usage data for business analytics. The policy calls them service providers acting on WhatsApp's instructions.
The terms require you to register with your current mobile phone number and to update it in the app when it changes. Whoever controls the number controls the account. Session and Threema, by contrast, state that they work without a phone number, which matters for people who do not want a number tied to every contact.
WhatsApp's privacy policy says content shared with a business may be visible to several people at that business, and the business may use outside providers, which can include Meta. Chat backups are end-to-end encrypted only if the user chooses to switch that on. A company that wants central control of staff chats has no admin layer in the consumer app, only the separate Business app.
| Alternative | Headquarters | Free option | Pricing | Key difference | Switch if | Our rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | United States | Yes | Free to use; funded by donations and grants | Non-profit messenger with no ads, funded by donations and grants | you want the nearest everyday replacement and care that no company owns the service | #1 |
| Threema | Switzerland | No free tier | One-time app purchase and Work plans per user per month, annual billing, published | Swiss messenger bought once, usable without phone number or email | you accept paying once and want an ID that does not depend on a phone number | #2 |
| Wire | Switzerland | Yes | Free plan for five people; SMB per person per month, published; Enterprise custom | Swiss-built work messenger with a five-person plan and federation | you need an employee messenger with SSO and admin control, not a family app | #4 |
| Element | United Kingdom | No free tier | Community edition at no charge; Enterprise per seat, Sovereign per deployment, no amounts listed | Matrix client where you run a server or buy a supported deployment | you want to host the messaging server yourself and keep federation under your control | #5 |
| Session | Switzerland | Yes | Free to use; a paid Session Pro tier is mentioned | Account IDs without phone numbers, routed through an onion network | hiding who talks to whom matters more to you than calls and large groups | #3 |
| Telegram | United Arab Emirates | Yes | Free to use; optional Premium subscription; sponsored messages in some channels | Cloud-based messenger where only secret chats are end-to-end encrypted | you run large communities and can live without end-to-end encryption by default | #6 |
| Viber | Luxembourg | Yes | Free to use with ads; Viber Plus removes ads; Viber Out per minute | Free messenger and calling app with ads, owned by Rakuten | you want a free WhatsApp-style app and sometimes call landlines at a per-minute rate | #7 |
| LINE | Japan | Yes | Free to use for messages and voice calls | Japanese messenger with Letter Sealing encryption for groups up to 50 | your contacts already use LINE, for example through ties to Japan | #8 |
| Singapore | No free tier | Some products carry fees; core messaging price not stated on the pages checked | Tencent messenger whose contracting entity depends on your phone number | you must reach contacts or services that sit on WeChat | #9 | |
| Apple Messages | United States | No free tier | No separate price stated; SMS and MMS need a carrier text plan | Built-in Apple messaging that falls back to RCS and SMS | everyone you message already carries an iPhone, iPad or Mac | #10 |
| Facebook Messenger | United States | Yes | Free to use with ads; ad-free subscription offered | Meta messenger rolling out end-to-end encryption for personal chats | your contacts are on Facebook and you do not need a Meta-free service | #11 |
United States · Free to use; funded by donations and grants
Run by Signal Messenger LLC as a 501c3 non-profit, with no ads and no tracking, paid for by grants and donations. It still registers accounts by phone number, as WhatsApp does. Its pages show no business plan, contract or admin console, so a company cannot buy support from it.
Switch from WhatsApp if you want the nearest everyday replacement and care that no company owns the service.
Switzerland · One-time app purchase and Work plans per user per month, annual billing, published
Swiss messenger from Threema AG. The private app costs a single payment (6 in CHF, EUR or USD, depending on store and country) and works without phone number or email. Group calls reach 16 people, and one ID cannot run on several phones yet. Work plans start at 3 per user per month, billed yearly.
Switch from WhatsApp if you accept paying once and want an ID that does not depend on a phone number.
Switzerland · Free plan for five people; SMB per person per month, published; Enterprise custom
Built for teams: a free plan for up to 5 people and 8 devices, SMB at 7.45 per person per month (yearly billing) for up to 100 people with SSO and SCIM, and quoted Enterprise. Free-plan calls stop at two participants. It targets organisations, not family groups.
Switch from WhatsApp if you need an employee messenger with SSO and admin control, not a family app.
United Kingdom · Community edition at no charge; Enterprise per seat, Sovereign per deployment, no amounts listed
The client of the Matrix network. The Community edition is free, open source under AGPL and marked for non-professional use. Professional use means a self-hosted Server Suite priced per seat, or per deployment for air-gapped sites. Someone has to run the servers, so it is a project for an IT team.
Switch from WhatsApp if you want to host the messaging server yourself and keep federation under your control.
Switzerland · Free to use; a paid Session Pro tier is mentioned
Uses Account IDs instead of phone numbers and onion-routed paths, run by a Swiss foundation. Closed groups stop at 100 people, calls are a one-to-one beta that is off by default, and a restore brings back only the last 14 days of messages. It is much less complete than WhatsApp as an everyday app.
Switch from WhatsApp if hiding who talks to whom matters more to you than calls and large groups.
United Arab Emirates · Free to use; optional Premium subscription; sponsored messages in some channels
Free to use, with sponsored messages in some channels and an optional Premium subscription. Groups hold up to 200,000 members and group calls up to 200 people. Ordinary chats are only encrypted between device and server; end-to-end encryption exists in secret chats alone. A mobile number is needed to sign up.
Switch from WhatsApp if you run large communities and can live without end-to-end encryption by default.
Luxembourg · Free to use with ads; Viber Plus removes ads; Viber Out per minute
Provided by Viber Media S.a r.l. in Luxembourg and owned by Rakuten Group. Free with ads, ad-free with Viber Plus, and Viber Out bills calls to ordinary phone numbers per minute. One-to-one and group chats are end-to-end encrypted by default, while public Communities allow unlimited members and are a different kind of conversation.
Switch from WhatsApp if you want a free WhatsApp-style app and sometimes call landlines at a per-minute rate.
Japan · Free to use for messages and voice calls
Operated by LY Corporation in Tokyo. Messages and voice calls are free. Letter Sealing is on by default but covers groups of up to 50 members only, and group audio and video calls get transport-level encryption. Third-party cloud backups fall outside it. The practical value depends on whether your contacts are already on LINE.
Switch from WhatsApp if your contacts already use LINE, for example through ties to Japan.
Singapore · Some products carry fees; core messaging price not stated on the pages checked
Tencent's messenger. The contracting entity is in Singapore for most numbers and in Amsterdam for numbers in UK, EEA and Swiss ranges. The privacy policy says chat messages are deleted from servers within 72 hours of sending, and mainland China staff can reach data for technical support. Some products are paid.
Switch from WhatsApp if you must reach contacts or services that sit on WeChat.
United States · No separate price stated; SMS and MMS need a carrier text plan
Built into Apple devices, with no separate app to install or price. iMessage is end-to-end encrypted between Apple devices. With other phones it falls back to RCS, encrypted only from iOS 26.5 and when both carriers support it, or to SMS and MMS, which are not encrypted. Everyone in a group needs an Apple device for full protection.
Switch from WhatsApp if everyone you message already carries an iPhone, iPad or Mac.
United States · Free to use with ads; ad-free subscription offered
Provided by Meta Platforms Ireland under the same terms as Facebook, free with ads or with a paid ad-free subscription. Meta describes end-to-end encryption of personal chats as a rollout over months. It stays inside the same company as WhatsApp, so it only helps if your contacts are on Facebook and not on WhatsApp.
Switch from WhatsApp if your contacts are on Facebook and you do not need a Meta-free service.
Facebook Messenger, #11 of 12 in our messaging apps ranking →
WhatsApp stays the sensible choice when the people you must reach already use it. Its calling page states that calls are always end-to-end encrypted and that group calls take up to 32 people, and messaging costs nothing beyond data charges. The WhatsApp Business app exists for companies that serve customers. If your aim is simply to reach family, neighbours or customers where they already are, a smaller network gives you fewer reachable people and more explaining.
None of the alternatives imports your WhatsApp chats or your contact network. Signal, Threema and Telegram each register a new account, and you must persuade the people you talk to install the app too. Keep WhatsApp running in parallel until the groups that matter have moved.
Signal, Telegram, Viber, LINE, WeChat and WhatsApp itself tie registration to a mobile number. Threema and Session say they work without one. If you want to stop handing out your number, choose an app from the second group before you invite others.
For staff chats, a consumer app gives no central user management. Threema Work, Wire and Element sell admin control, with SSO on Wire's SMB plan and self-hosted servers on Element. Count the seats and the monthly cost against the free consumer apps before you commit a team.
The WhatsApp homepage and terms present messaging and calling as free, with the user responsible for carrier data fees. The terms state no price for the service. A WhatsApp Business app exists for companies.
WhatsApp LLC, at 1 Meta Way in Menlo Park, California, provides the service outside the European Region. Inside it, WhatsApp Ireland Limited does. Both are part of Meta.
Threema says its IDs can be used without a phone number or email, and Session says no number or email is needed. Signal, Telegram, Viber, LINE and WeChat register accounts with a mobile number.
Wire, Threema Work and Element sell business plans. Wire SMB costs 7.45 per person per month on yearly billing and adds SSO and SCIM.
Threema Work Core is 3 and Professional 5 per user per month, billed yearly. Element Enterprise is priced per seat with no amount shown.
No. Telegram encrypts ordinary chats only between device and server, with end-to-end encryption in secret chats. Apple Messages uses it for iMessage, not for SMS.
LINE covers groups of up to 50 members. Signal, Threema, Session and Viber describe it as the default for personal chats.
Element sells a self-hosted Server Suite, with a free open source Community edition marked for non-professional use. Wire lists an on-premises deployment option on its site. Both need someone to operate the servers.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Written, edited and fact-checked by Sebastiaan Smits. Last reviewed 20 October 2026. How we review.
