Element vs Mumble (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Element and Mumble share a 2.8 GPA, both have a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on whether you care more about features and platforms, where Element grades higher, or value for money and ease of use, where Mumble does.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick Element if
- Fits if you want a free encrypted messenger for yourself or a community
- Works for governments and regulated organizations that must keep chat on their own servers
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want someone else to host your company's chat, as no Element-hosted plan is listed
- Not for you if you need to see a price before talking to sales, because none is published
- Tight if you hoped to run a business on the free server, which covers 100 users and isn't meant for commercial use
- Watch out: Enterprise starts at 100 users, and whitelabelled apps and the cross domain gateway are add-ons
- Watch out: devices must be verified by QR code or emoji string before messages decrypt
Pick Mumble if
- Fits if you want voice chat with low delay for a gaming group
- Works for admins who want to run their own voice server
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want rich text chat, as it is basic
- Not for you if you don't want to run or find a server, since one is needed
- Watch out: the mobile apps are third-party and not maintained by the team
- Watch out: development is by volunteers, and the 1.6 series is still a release candidate
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAElementGood | 2.8GPAMumbleGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published at all. Enterprise is per seat per month and Sovereign per deployment, both through sales, and Enterprise starts at 100 users. So there is nothing to weigh against the $7 a month team chat typically starts at until you've had the call. | AThe client and server are free and open source with no licence cost. You need a server to talk on: a public one, or one you host. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe app is free for personal use on a public server, with no cap you'd run into: rooms, threads, unlimited history and end-to-end encrypted calls. Element Server Suite Community is free too, under AGPL, for 1 to 100 users. | ANo paid tier and no cap on record: nothing to pay for. |
| Features | BThe whole chat job, and encrypted by default: rooms with threads, read receipts, polls, reactions and voice messages, Element Call for group voice and video, widgets like a whiteboard, Jira and OpenProject. Matrix federation lets separate organizations talk. No Element-hosted option is listed, though. | CLow-latency voice, positional audio, an overlay, permissions, encryption and a recorder. Text chat is basic compared with team messengers. |
| Ease of use | DAn individual can sign in on a public server and start talking. A company can't: the pricing page lists only self-hosted and air-gapped deployments, so somebody is running a Matrix homeserver. Devices also have to be verified by QR code or emoji string before messages decrypt. | CNo store rating on record. Joining a public server is simple, though running your own takes setup and a learning curve. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android. Matrix is an open standard with its own API, so bots, other clients and other organizations' servers all plug in, and widgets embed NeoBoard, OpenProject and Jira in a room. | CWindows, Mac and Linux clients. Mobile apps are third-party projects the Mumble team says it does not maintain. |
| Best for | encrypted chat on servers you control | low-latency voice chat on a server you control |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Element and Mumble. How we grade
Where they differ
- Element also covers video calls and file sharing.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxOpen sourceSelf-hostableEnd-to-end encryptedTeam chat
At a glance
| Element | Mumble | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | Not published | Free |
| Free plan | The Element app is free for personal use on a public server, and Element Server Suite Community is a free AGPL self-hosted edition for 1 to 100 users. | Mumble is free and open source, with no licensing cost for the client or the server. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Element Creations Ltd | The Mumble project |
| Price read from | element.io | mumble.info |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Element
- No prices are published: Enterprise is priced per seat per month and Sovereign per deployment, both through sales, and Enterprise starts from 100 users.
- The free Community server edition covers 1 to 100 users and, the vendor says, is not intended for production in commercial environments.
- For organizations, the pricing page lists only self-hosted and air-gapped deployments; it does not list a plan hosted by Element.
- Whitelabelled apps and the cross domain gateway are sold as add-ons.
Mumble
- Mumble is voice chat first, and text chat is basic compared with team messengers.
- You or a hosting provider must run the server; public servers are another way to connect.
- Mobile apps are third-party projects the Mumble team says it does not maintain, and the latest macOS 1.5 build is 1.5.901.
- Development is by a team of volunteers, with a release candidate of the 1.6 series available.
Key features
Element
- End-to-end encryption by default
- The platform is end-to-end encrypted by default, including voice and video, and devices are verified by QR code or an emoji string.
- Rooms and messaging
- Rooms organize team discussions, with threads, read receipts, attachments, voice messages, polls, reactions, invite-only private rooms and unlimited history.
- Element Call
- End-to-end encrypted voice and video for 1:1 and group conversations. Element Call is also included in the free Community server edition.
- Matrix federation
- Built on the Matrix open standard, so separate organizations can communicate across servers and frontends. Administrators can enable or block federation.
- Element Server Suite
- The self-hosted backend. Pro adds the Synapse Pro homeserver, auto-scaling, high availability, an admin interface, LDAP and SCIM integration, and auditing.
- Widgets and integrations
- Interactive apps can be embedded in rooms, including a whiteboard (NeoBoard) and project management tools such as OpenProject and Jira, alongside bots.
Mumble
- Low-latency voice
- Mumble describes itself as the first VoIP application to establish true low-latency voice communication, and targets talking while gaming.
- Positional audio and overlay
- In supported games you hear players from where they are located in the game, and an overlay shows who is talking.
- Permission system
- An extensive access control list sets who can speak, listen or enter which channels, for example letting leaders talk to two groups.
- Self-hosted server
- The server program runs on your own hardware, with administration through the Ice protocol, authenticators and community web interfaces.
- Encrypted communication
- The site says communication is always encrypted and uses public/private-key authentication by default.
- Multi-channel recorder
- Users record podcasts with the built-in multi-channel audio recorder, according to the project site.
Plans
Element
Community$0
Self-hosted Element Server Suite Community: open source under AGPL, for 1 to 100 users, with Element Call. Not meant for commercial production use.
EnterpriseCustom
Self-hosted Element Server Suite Pro from 100 users, priced per seat per month through sales: Synapse Pro, SSO, LDAP, auditing and SLA-backed support.
SovereignCustom
Air-gapped Element Server Suite Pro, priced per deployment, with a dedicated mobile push gateway and no dependence on internet connectivity.
Mumble
Free$0
Open-source client and server, free to download and host yourself, with no paid tiers.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Element or Mumble?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Element publishes no starting price, and Mumble is free.
Which has a free plan, Element or Mumble?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Element and Mumble have a free plan.
Which platforms do Element and Mumble run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Element lists a web app and iOS and Android apps. Both list macOS, Windows and Linux apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.