Element vs Twake (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Element grades higher than Twake: 2.8 against 2.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Element grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms. Twake grades higher on value for money and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Twake
Open-source workplace suite with chat, mail and drive
Free plan · from €4.00/mo
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 Twake if
- Fits if you want data kept in France and an option to host the suite yourself
- Works for a small group that wants chat, mail and files from one open-source vendor
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need video calls inside chat today, as the Chat page marks Jitsi as coming soon
- Tight if you stay on the free plan: 5 GB of storage and 100 emails a day
- Pricey if you want the Office document editor, which starts on Standard at €4 a month
- Watch out: the plans page was readable only in French and in euros, and no annual or business seat prices are shown
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAElementGood | 2.6GPATwakeGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | BFree plan at €0 with 5 GB of storage and a 1 GB mailbox; Standard is €4 a month and Premium €12, against a category whose cheaper quarter starts at $3.50. |
| 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. | BThe free plan has instant messaging, notes and unlimited devices. The caps are 5 GB of storage and 100 emails a day. |
| 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. | CChat, drive, mail, calendar and video in one account, but the Office editor is not on the free plan and Chat's video is marked coming soon. |
| 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, and the listing shows apps to install across several products plus bridges to set up for Telegram, Discord or Signal. |
| 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. | BMac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, with Matrix bridges and OnlyOffice. The listing shows no web version or API. |
| Best for | encrypted chat on servers you control | chat, mail and files from one open-source vendor |
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 Twake. How we grade
Where they differ
- Element is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Element also covers video calls.
- Twake also covers calendar.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxiOSAndroidOpen sourceSelf-hostableTeam chatFile sharing
At a glance
| Element | Twake | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | €4.00 per month |
| 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. | Free plan with 5 GB of cloud storage, a 1 GB mailbox with 100 emails a day, instant messaging, notes and unlimited authorized devices; not a promotion. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Element Creations Ltd | LINAGORA |
| Price read from | element.io | twake.app |
| 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.
Twake
- The plans page was readable only in French, with prices in euros; storage and mailbox size, not chat, differ between plans.
- The Office document editor is not included on the free plan.
- No annual prices or business seat prices are shown; the company plan is quoted on request.
- Video conferencing inside Twake Chat is marked coming soon on the Chat page.
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.
Twake
- Matrix-based chat
- Twake Chat runs on the Matrix protocol, with direct and group chats, channels, and optional extra end-to-end encryption.
- Bridges to other messengers
- The Matrix protocol lets Twake Chat send and receive messages on networks such as Telegram, Discord and Signal.
- Drive, Mail and Calendar
- The same account opens Drive for file storage with Office-format editing, Mail for email and Calendar for scheduling.
- Video conferencing
- Twake Visio is a video conferencing product, and the Chat page lists Jitsi videoconferencing as coming soon.
- Hosted in France
- The site says all data is stored in France under GDPR rules, with SSL/TLS and WebSocket communication enabled.
- On-premise installation
- Twake Chat, Drive and Mail can be installed on your own servers using Docker, according to the 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.
Twake
Découvrir€0.00
5 GB cloud storage, 1 GB mailbox with 100 emails a day, instant messaging and collaborative notes.
Standard€4.00
per month
50 GB cloud storage, 15 GB mailbox with unlimited emails a day, and an Office document editor.
Premium€12.00
per month
1,000 GB cloud storage, a 500 GB mailbox with unlimited emails a day, and an Office document editor.
EnterpriseCustom
Offer for companies and local authorities, with a personal cloud for each user. Contact the company.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Element or Twake?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Element publishes no starting price, and Twake starts at €4.00 per month.
Which has a free plan, Element or Twake?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Element and Twake have a free plan.
Which platforms do Element and Twake run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Element lists a web app. Both list macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android 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.