Google Hangouts Alternatives

Telegram is a messaging app created by former Small VK creators with a focus on speed and security. It’s superfast, simple and free. It is like SMS, but more powerful.

All-in-one voice and text chat for gamers that’s free, secure, and works on both your desktop and phone. Stop paying for TeamSpeak servers and hassling with Skype.

Skype is the most popular free voice-over IP and instant messaging service globally. It allows users to text, video and voice call over the internet. Users can also call landlines and mobiles at competitive rates using Skype credit, premium accounts and subscriptions.

TextSecure and RedPhone have been merged to create Signal!

Using Signal, you can communicate instantly while avoiding SMS fees, create groups so that you can chat in real time with all your friends at once, and share media or attachments all with complete privacy. The server never has access to any of your communication and never stores any of your data.

Slack brings all your communication together in one place. It’s real-time messaging, archiving and search for modern teams.

Riot (formerly Vector) is an opensource interoperable app running on Web, iOS and Android. It is built around chat rooms, both public and private and provides messaging, filesharing, voice and video conferencing (beta on Android and web), integrations to tools like GitHub, Jira, Jenkins and much more soon.

With the rise of widespread government monitoring programs, Tox is an easy to use application that allows you to connect with friends and loved ones without anyone else listening in.

Pidgin is an easy to use, multi-protocol chat client client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, XMPP, and more chat networks all at once. It has built-in support for NSS, offering client-to-server message encryption for protocols that support it. The program is extendable through plugins, including “Off-the-Record Messaging” and Pidgin encryption, providing end-to-end message encryption.

WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. WhatsApp Messenger is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia and yes, those phones can all message each other! Because WhatsApp Messenger uses the same internet data plan that you use for email and web browsing, there is no cost to message and stay in touch with your friends.

Wire is the most secure collaboration platform featuring messenger, voice, video, conference calls, file-sharing, and external collaboration –all protected by the most secure end-to-end-encryption.

Jitsi (previously SIP Communicator) is an audio/video and chat communicator with full end-to-end encryption that supports protocols such as SIP, XMPP/Jabber, ICQ/AIM, Windows Live, Yahoo!, GTalk/Hangouts extensions, as well as OTR, ZRTP, etc.

Matrix defines a set of open APIs for decentralised communication, suitable for securely publishing, persisting and subscribing to data over a global open federation of servers with no single point of control.