What is Delta Chat used for?

Delta Chat Desktop is the desktop app for Delta Chat, a decentralized messenger that sends encrypted chats over ordinary email servers. It is a good fit for private messaging using an existing email address and chat with contacts who prefer a decentralized messenger.

Is Delta Chat open source?

Yes. Delta Chat is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at deltachat/deltachat-desktop and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Delta Chat is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Delta Chat?

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

What is Delta Chat an alternative to?

Delta Chat is an open-source alternative to WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and Viber. Other open-source alternatives to WhatsApp include SimpleX Chat, FluffyChat and Session.

Is Delta Chat actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Delta Chat was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v2.59.1, published on 23 August 2026. The project has 1.6k stars on GitHub.

Delta Chat: open-source alternative to WhatsApp, Telegram

About Delta Chat

Delta Chat Desktop is the desktop application for Delta Chat, described as a decentralized private messenger with chat-shared tools and games. Project topics show that it works over standard email protocols, IMAP and SMTP, and supports Autocrypt-based end-to-end encryption, so conversations can run over existing email accounts instead of a single central service.

The default edition is built on Electron and is the version deployed in app stores and used by most people. A highly experimental browser edition with a web server component is meant only for developers and automated testing, and a work-in-progress edition based on Tauri lives in a separate repository. The code is written in TypeScript and licensed under GPL-3.0.

Binary releases are published for supported platforms, with Flatpak and Arch Linux options on Linux, Homebrew or a DMG on macOS and installers for Windows. User documentation covers troubleshooting, command-line flags, keybindings and creating custom themes, while developer documentation explains logging, styling, updating the core, end-to-end tests and the release process.

Key features

Chat over email servers using IMAP and SMTP
End-to-end encryption with Autocrypt
Electron desktop app
Custom themes and keybindings
Experimental browser and Tauri editions

Good fit for

→Private messaging using an existing email address
→Chat with contacts who prefer a decentralized messenger

Built with: TypeScript; Electron
Tags: messenger; chat; email; e2ee; autocrypt; electron; decentralized; desktop

Delta Chat: questions and answers

What is Delta Chat used for?: Delta Chat Desktop is the desktop app for Delta Chat, a decentralized messenger that sends encrypted chats over ordinary email servers. It is a good fit for private messaging using an existing email address and chat with contacts who prefer a decentralized messenger.
Is Delta Chat open source?: Yes. Delta Chat is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at deltachat/deltachat-desktop and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Delta Chat free?: Yes. Delta Chat is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Delta Chat?: Yes. Delta Chat can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Delta Chat an alternative to?: Delta Chat is an open-source alternative to WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and Viber. Other open-source alternatives to WhatsApp include SimpleX Chat, FluffyChat and Session.
Is Delta Chat actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Delta Chat was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v2.59.1, published on 23 August 2026. The project has 1.6k stars on GitHub.