this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2026
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Of the ones I've tried that are fully open-source, zulip is the best one regarding UX functionality.
I've found Matrix is a UX nightmare, with many different clients implementing different features, or having issues if a non-default login mode is used, ending in people getting locked out after the browser logged them out because they forgot to copy a key when they were logged in.
Others like rocketchat are opencore like matter most, which means they can do the switcheroo.
The things I would care the most when checking this kind of service are:
On Matrix, as long as you have your username and password, it’s not possible to get “locked out” due to not having your keys. In fact, your keys are only necessary if you plan to participate in encrypted chats, in which case it’s obvious that losing your key will mean losing access to old messages. However, you will still be able to receive new messages by generating a new key.
Thank you for the summary!