What is Cinny used for?

Cinny is a Matrix client with a simple, elegant interface, available as a web app and desktop app and self-hostable via a tarball or Docker image. It is a good fit for chatting on Matrix with a clean interface and hosting your own Matrix web client.

Is Cinny open source?

Yes. Cinny is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at cinnyapp/cinny and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Cinny is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host Cinny?

Yes. Cinny can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Cinny an alternative to?

Cinny is an open-source alternative to Slack, Discord and Telegram. Other open-source alternatives to Slack include Element, Element Android and VoceChat.

Is Cinny actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Cinny was on 28 September 2026, and the latest release is v4.12.7, published on 15 September 2026. The project has 3.9k stars on GitHub.

Cinny: open-source alternative to Slack, Discord, Telegram

About Cinny

Cinny is a client for the Matrix chat network that focuses on a simple, elegant and secure interface. The stated aim is an instant messaging application that is easy on people and has a modern look.

The web app is available at app.cinny.in and is updated on every release, while the dev branch is continuously deployed to a separate address that may be unstable. A desktop app is distributed from the cinny-desktop repository. The maintainers are currently replacing matrix-js-sdk with their own SDK and are not accepting pull requests until further notice.

To self-host Cinny, download the release tarball and serve the dist directory with any web server, or pull the Docker image from Docker Hub or the GitHub Container Registry. Default homeservers and explore pages are set in config.json, redirects need to be configured for assets, and hash routing is available as a fallback. Cinny is written in TypeScript and licensed under AGPL-3.0.

Key features

Matrix chat client
Web app and desktop app
Self-hosting via tarball or Docker
Configurable default homeservers
Hash routing option for easy hosting

Good fit for

→Chatting on Matrix with a clean interface
→Hosting your own Matrix web client

Built with: TypeScript
Tags: matrix; matrix-client; chat; messaging; reactjs; self-hosted; typescript; desktop

Cinny: questions and answers

What is Cinny used for?: Cinny is a Matrix client with a simple, elegant interface, available as a web app and desktop app and self-hostable via a tarball or Docker image. It is a good fit for chatting on Matrix with a clean interface and hosting your own Matrix web client.
Is Cinny open source?: Yes. Cinny is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at cinnyapp/cinny and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Cinny free?: Yes. Cinny is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host Cinny?: Yes. Cinny can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Cinny an alternative to?: Cinny is an open-source alternative to Slack, Discord and Telegram. Other open-source alternatives to Slack include Element, Element Android and VoceChat.
Is Cinny actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Cinny was on 28 September 2026, and the latest release is v4.12.7, published on 15 September 2026. The project has 3.9k stars on GitHub.