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element-hq logoelement-web

A glossy Matrix collaboration client for the web.

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Quick Overview

Element Web is an open-source web application for secure, decentralized communication based on the Matrix protocol. It provides a feature-rich client for Matrix, offering end-to-end encrypted messaging, voice and video calls, file sharing, and more. Element Web serves as the foundation for Element's desktop and mobile applications.

Pros

  • End-to-end encryption for enhanced privacy and security
  • Decentralized architecture, allowing users to choose their own server
  • Cross-platform compatibility (web, desktop, and mobile)
  • Rich feature set including messaging, calls, file sharing, and integrations

Cons

  • Learning curve for users unfamiliar with Matrix or decentralized communication
  • Performance can be slower compared to centralized messaging apps
  • Some advanced features may require technical knowledge to set up and use
  • Occasional synchronization issues between devices

Getting Started

To run Element Web locally:

  1. Clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/element-hq/element-web.git
cd element-web

  2. Install dependencies:

    yarn install

  3. Build the application:

    yarn build

  4. Start the development server:

    yarn start

  5. Open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080 to access Element Web.

For more detailed instructions and configuration options, refer to the project's README and documentation.

Competitor Comparisons

matrix-org logo

matrix-react-sdk

1,105

Matrix SDK for React Javascript

Pros of matrix-react-sdk

  • More focused on providing a reusable SDK for Matrix applications
  • Offers greater flexibility for developers building custom Matrix clients
  • Provides a comprehensive set of React components for Matrix functionality

Cons of matrix-react-sdk

  • Requires more setup and configuration compared to element-web
  • May have a steeper learning curve for developers new to Matrix
  • Less out-of-the-box functionality compared to the full element-web client

Code Comparison

matrix-react-sdk:

import React from 'react';
import { MatrixClient } from 'matrix-js-sdk';
import { RoomList } from 'matrix-react-sdk';

const MyComponent = ({ matrixClient }) => (
    <RoomList matrixClient={matrixClient} />
);

element-web:

import React from 'react';
import { MatrixChat } from 'matrix-react-sdk';

const App = () => (
    <MatrixChat config={window.vector_config} />
);

The matrix-react-sdk example shows how to use individual components, while element-web provides a more complete, pre-configured solution. element-web builds upon matrix-react-sdk, offering a full-featured Matrix client with less initial setup required.

element-hq logo

element-android

3,411

A Matrix collaboration client for Android.

Pros of element-android

  • Native Android performance and integration
  • Better access to device-specific features and APIs
  • Potentially smaller app size compared to web-based solution

Cons of element-android

  • Limited to Android platform, requiring separate development for other platforms
  • May require more frequent updates to maintain compatibility with Android OS changes
  • Potentially higher development and maintenance costs

Code Comparison

element-android (Kotlin):

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
    }
}

element-web (JavaScript/React):

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import App from './App';

ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById('root'));

The element-android repository uses Kotlin for native Android development, providing direct access to Android APIs and features. In contrast, element-web utilizes JavaScript and React for a cross-platform web-based approach, offering greater flexibility but potentially sacrificing some native performance and features.

element-android benefits from the ability to leverage Android-specific optimizations and integrate seamlessly with the operating system. However, it's limited to the Android ecosystem, whereas element-web can run on various platforms through web browsers.

Development in element-android may require more platform-specific knowledge, while element-web allows for a more unified codebase across different devices and operating systems.

element-hq logo

element-ios

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A glossy Matrix collaboration client for iOS

Pros of element-ios

  • Native iOS performance and user experience
  • Better integration with iOS-specific features (e.g., push notifications, Siri shortcuts)
  • Optimized for mobile devices with touch-based interactions

Cons of element-ios

  • Limited to iOS platform, reducing cross-platform compatibility
  • Potentially slower feature implementation compared to the web version
  • Requires separate development and maintenance from the web version

Code Comparison

element-web (JavaScript/TypeScript):

const sendMessage = async (roomId: string, content: IContent) => {
    const client = MatrixClientPeg.get();
    await client.sendMessage(roomId, content);
};

element-ios (Swift):

func sendMessage(roomId: String, content: [String: Any]) async throws {
    let client = MXSDKOptions.sharedInstance().matrixRestClient
    try await client.sendMessage(to: roomId, content: content)
}

Both repositories implement similar functionality for sending messages, but element-ios uses Swift and iOS-specific libraries, while element-web uses TypeScript and web-based Matrix client libraries. The iOS version leverages Swift's async/await pattern, while the web version uses JavaScript Promises.

syphon-org logo

syphon

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⚗️ a privacy centric matrix client

Pros of Syphon

  • Built with Flutter, allowing for cross-platform development and potentially smoother performance
  • Focuses on privacy and security, with features like end-to-end encryption and minimal data collection
  • Offers a clean, minimalist user interface

Cons of Syphon

  • Less mature project with fewer features compared to Element
  • Smaller community and less frequent updates
  • Limited customization options for users

Code Comparison

Element (JavaScript):

export function getHomeserverUrl(state: MatrixState): string {
    return state.homeserver?.baseUrl ?? "";
}

Syphon (Dart):

String getHomeserverUrl(MatrixState state) {
  return state.homeserver?.baseUrl ?? '';
}

Both projects use similar patterns for accessing homeserver URLs, with Syphon using Dart's null-aware operators and Element using TypeScript's optional chaining. The main difference lies in the language syntax and type annotations.

Element has a more extensive codebase with a wider range of features and customization options. Syphon, being newer and built with Flutter, may offer better performance on mobile devices but currently lacks some of the advanced features found in Element.

Overall, Element is more suitable for users seeking a feature-rich Matrix client with extensive customization, while Syphon may appeal to those prioritizing privacy and a streamlined mobile experience.

mattermost logo

mattermost-webapp

2,287

Archived web app of Mattermost. Moved to the monorepo: https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost

Pros of Mattermost-webapp

  • More extensive documentation and guides for contributors
  • Larger community and more active development
  • Better integration with enterprise systems and workflows

Cons of Mattermost-webapp

  • Less focus on end-to-end encryption and privacy features
  • More complex codebase due to additional enterprise features
  • Steeper learning curve for new contributors

Code Comparison

Element-web (React):

const MessageComposer = ({ roomId, onSend }) => {
  const [message, setMessage] = useState('');
  const handleSend = () => {
    onSend(message);
    setMessage('');
  };
  // ...
};

Mattermost-webapp (React):

export default class CreateComment extends React.PureComponent {
  handleSubmit = (e) => {
    e.preventDefault();
    this.props.onSubmit(this.state.message);
    this.setState({ message: '' });
  };
  // ...
}

Both projects use React for their frontend, but Mattermost-webapp tends to use class components more frequently, while Element-web leans towards functional components with hooks. Mattermost-webapp's codebase is generally more complex due to its broader feature set and enterprise focus.

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Element

Element (formerly known as Vector and Riot) is a Matrix web client built using the Matrix JS SDK.

Supported Environments

Element has several tiers of support for different environments:

  • Supported
    • Definition:
      • Issues actively triaged, regressions block the release
    • Last 2 major versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Edge on desktop OSes
    • Last 2 versions of Safari
    • Latest release of official Element Desktop app on desktop OSes
    • Desktop OSes means macOS, Windows, and Linux versions for desktop devices that are actively supported by the OS vendor and receive security updates
  • Best effort
    • Definition:
      • Issues accepted, regressions do not block the release
      • The wider Element Products(including Element Call and the Enterprise Server Suite) do still not officially support these browsers.
      • The element web project and its contributors should keep the client functioning and gracefully degrade where other sibling features (E.g. Element Call) may not function.
    • Last major release of Firefox ESR and Chrome/Edge Extended Stable
  • Community Supported
    • Definition:
      • Issues accepted, regressions do not block the release
      • Community contributions are welcome to support these issues
    • Mobile web for current stable version of Chrome, Firefox, and Safari on Android, iOS, and iPadOS
  • Not supported
    • Definition: Issues only affecting unsupported environments are closed
    • Everything else

The period of support for these tiers should last until the releases specified above, plus 1 app release cycle(2 weeks). In the case of Firefox ESR this is extended further to allow it land in Debian Stable.

For accessing Element on an Android or iOS device, we currently recommend the native apps element-android and element-ios.

Getting Started

The easiest way to test Element is to just use the hosted copy at https://app.element.io. The develop branch is continuously deployed to https://develop.element.io for those who like living dangerously.

To host your own instance of Element see Installing Element Web.

To install Element as a desktop application, see Running as a desktop app below.

Important Security Notes

Separate domains

We do not recommend running Element from the same domain name as your Matrix homeserver. The reason is the risk of XSS (cross-site-scripting) vulnerabilities that could occur if someone caused Element to load and render malicious user generated content from a Matrix API which then had trusted access to Element (or other apps) due to sharing the same domain.

We have put some coarse mitigations into place to try to protect against this situation, but it's still not good practice to do it in the first place. See https://github.com/element-hq/element-web/issues/1977 for more details.

Configuration best practices

Unless you have special requirements, you will want to add the following to your web server configuration when hosting Element Web:

  • The X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN header, to prevent Element Web from being framed and protect from clickjacking.
  • The frame-ancestors 'self' directive to your Content-Security-Policy header, as the modern replacement for X-Frame-Options (though both should be included since not all browsers support it yet, see this).
  • The X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff header, to disable MIME sniffing.
  • The X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block; header, for basic XSS protection in legacy browsers.

If you are using nginx, this would look something like the following:

add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
add_header Content-Security-Policy "frame-ancestors 'self'";

For Apache, the configuration looks like:

Header set X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN
Header set X-Content-Type-Options nosniff
Header set X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block"
Header set Content-Security-Policy "frame-ancestors 'self'"

Note: In case you are already setting a Content-Security-Policy header elsewhere, you should modify it to include the frame-ancestors directive instead of adding that last line.

Building From Source

Element is a modular webapp built with modern ES6 and uses a Node.js build system. Ensure you have the latest LTS version of Node.js installed.

Using yarn instead of npm is recommended. Please see the Yarn install guide if you do not have it already.

  1. Install or update node.js so that your node is at least the current recommended LTS.
  2. Install yarn if not present already.
  3. Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/element-hq/element-web.git.
  4. Switch to the element-web directory: cd element-web.
  5. Install the prerequisites: yarn install.
  6. Configure the app by copying config.sample.json to config.json and modifying it. See the configuration docs for details.
  7. yarn dist to build a tarball to deploy. Untaring this file will give a version-specific directory containing all the files that need to go on your web server.

Note that yarn dist is not supported on Windows, so Windows users can run yarn build, which will build all the necessary files into the webapp directory. The version of Element will not appear in Settings without using the dist script. You can then mount the webapp directory on your web server to actually serve up the app, which is entirely static content.

Running as a Desktop app

Element can also be run as a desktop app, wrapped in Electron. You can download a pre-built version from https://element.io/get-started or, if you prefer, build it yourself.

To build it yourself, follow the instructions at https://github.com/element-hq/element-desktop.

Many thanks to @aviraldg for the initial work on the Electron integration.

The configuration docs show how to override the desktop app's default settings if desired.

config.json

Element supports a variety of settings to configure default servers, behaviour, themes, etc. See the configuration docs for more details.

Labs Features

Some features of Element may be enabled by flags in the Labs section of the settings. Some of these features are described in labs.md.

Caching requirements

Element requires the following URLs not to be cached, when/if you are serving Element from your own webserver:

/config.*.json
/i18n
/home
/sites
/index.html

We also recommend that you force browsers to re-validate any cached copy of Element on page load by configuring your webserver to return Cache-Control: no-cache for /. This ensures the browser will fetch a new version of Element on the next page load after it's been deployed. Note that this is already configured for you in the nginx config of our Dockerfile.

Development

Please read through the following:

  1. Developer guide
  2. Code style
  3. Contribution guide

Translations

To add a new translation, head to the translating doc.

For a developer guide, see the translating dev doc.

Triaging issues

Issues are triaged by community members and the Web App Team, following the triage process.

We use issue labels to sort all incoming issues.

Copyright & License

Copyright (c) 2014-2017 OpenMarket Ltd Copyright (c) 2017 Vector Creations Ltd Copyright (c) 2017-2025 New Vector Ltd

This software is multi licensed by New Vector Ltd (Element). It can be used either:

(1) for free under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License (as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version); OR

(2) for free under the terms of the GNU General Public License (as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version); OR

(3) under the terms of a paid-for Element Commercial License agreement between you and Element (the terms of which may vary depending on what you and Element have agreed to). Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the Licenses is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the Licenses for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the Licenses.

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