The crypto is not the debate
ZeroMessage does not claim better encryption than Signal — message content is end-to-end encrypted either way. The difference is everything around the crypto, not the crypto itself.
Comparison
Signal is for people.
ZeroMessage is for organisations.
Signal sets the gold standard for personal encrypted messaging. ZeroMessage uses the same grade of end-to-end encryption, then adds the management layer an organisation needs.
Signal is a good product. This page is about one architectural difference — and who it matters for.
Side by side
ZeroMessage vs Signal for business
| Signal | Zeromatics | |
|---|---|---|
| End-to-end encryption | The Signal Protocol is the open-source, independently audited gold standard for E2EE. | Same-grade end-to-end encryption — message content is unreadable to the server and to us. |
| Organisational directory & onboarding | Built around individual accounts; there is no central directory to provision staff from. | Members come from your org directory. Onboard and offboard people the way you manage employees. |
| Governance without content access | Designed for individuals, so it offers no admin console or central management. | Admins govern membership, groups and access — without the ability to read message content. |
| Identity | Accounts are anchored to a phone number; usernames (2024) hide the number from contacts but registration still requires one. | Identity is your organisational account — no personal phone number required to participate. |
| Sovereign / private hosting | The server is open source, but self-hosting is impractical (Kubernetes, Cassandra, Redis, S3, phone-number provisioning). | Built to be privately hosted inside your own jurisdiction and infrastructure as a supported deployment. |
| Document platform integration | A standalone messenger; file sharing is sending an attachment. | Lives in the same platform as the encrypted document workspace — share files by key straight into a chat. |
| Platforms | Mature, polished apps on desktop and mobile. | Desktop and mobile clients, delivered as part of the Zeromatics platform. |
| Support & SLA | Community and nonprofit support; no commercial SLA, as it is a free public service. | Commercial support and SLAs as part of an enterprise engagement. |
The difference that matters
Same-grade crypto, a different management layer
A management layer for organisations
Org directory, onboarding, groups and access governance — the controls a company needs and an individual messenger was never built to provide.
Sovereign by deployment
Run messaging inside your own jurisdiction, beside your encrypted documents, with content the operator still cannot read.
To be fair
When Signal is the right choice
- You want the most trusted, independently audited personal messaging app available.
- It is free, run by a nonprofit, and you are messaging as individuals rather than as an organisation.
- Signal is ubiquitous — the people you talk to are very likely already on it.
- You do not need central administration, an org directory, or a private deployment.
If your data could appear in a headline, the architecture is the decision. That is where we are different.
See the difference, sealed, live.
Watch your own data turn to ciphertext before it leaves the browser. The demo takes two minutes.