PriChat or Signal: the honest comparison
Signal is an excellent messenger, and PriChat uses the same encryption. The comparison is still worth it, because at one point the two clearly diverge.
Up front, so nobody gets the wrong idea: Signal is an excellent messenger. The Signal protocol is the gold standard of end-to-end encryption, and PriChat uses exactly that approach (X3DH for the key exchange, Double Ratchet for ongoing encryption). If you use Signal today, you are doing little wrong.
The comparison is still worth it, because the two part ways at one decisive point.
The phone number
Signal introduced usernames in 2024, and that was real progress: since then people can find you by a name instead of your number. But, and many overlook this: Signal still requires a phone number to register (as of July 2026). The username only replaces how people contact you, not how you sign up.
At PriChat the number does not exist in the first place. You choose a username and a password, that is it. There is no number to verify, store or later link back to you. For many that is a detail, for some it is the whole point.
Side by side
| Signal | PriChat | |
|---|---|---|
| Encryption | Signal protocol | X3DH + Double Ratchet |
| Phone number at sign-up | yes, still required | no |
| Open source | yes, fully | no, the client is proprietary |
| External security audit | yes, several | no, not so far |
| Installation | app from the store | browser, installable as an app |
| Self-hosting | code is open, hard to run in practice | supported, with a license key |
| Backed by | a foundation, donation funded | a small independent project |
Where Signal is clearly ahead
I am not going to dress this up. Signal is the stronger choice in several places:
- Open source and audited. Anyone can inspect the code, and experts have. PriChat cannot offer that right now.
- Reach. Signal has millions of users, PriChat is new.
- Years of hardening. Maturity beats good intentions.
If your threat model is serious, meaning you are a journalist, activist or whistleblower, use Signal. That is not politeness, it is the honest advice.
Where PriChat is ahead
- No phone number, anywhere. There is nothing to link.
- No store needed. The app runs in the browser. On managed devices, or in countries with blocked stores, that can be decisive.
- Metadata minimised consistently. Our database holds no plaintext record of who talks to whom, not for groups and not for requests either.
- Self-hosting possible. You can run the infrastructure yourself.
Signal and PriChat are not enemies. We use the same cryptography. The difference is how much you have to give up just to take part.