Cwtch vs Dino
Cwtch
cwtch.imDino
dino.imSide by side
| Figure | Cwtch | Dino |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Encrypted Messaging Apps | 8.1 (#13) | 8.3 (#5) |
| Spec score · Secure Messaging Apps | 8.1 (#13) | 8.2 (#12) |
| Encryption | Cwtch says all communication is end-to-end encrypted and takes place over Tor v3 onion services. | Dino supports end-to-end encryption using OMEMO or OpenPGP; the site says only the user and chat partners can read encrypted messages. |
| Platforms | The download page provides builds for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android; it says an iOS offering is not currently available. | The distribution packages page lists release packages for Arch, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, Alpine, Gentoo, Guix, NixOS, Void Linux, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD. |
| Product | Cwtch is a decentralized, privacy-preserving, metadata-resistant messaging app. | Dino is an open-source desktop chat client for Jabber/XMPP focused on a clean, reliable experience and privacy. |
Plans
In their own words
Cwtch
Cwtch is a free decentralized messaging app for Android, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Direct conversations use Tor v3 onion services to create anonymous peer-to-peer connections between profiles, and Cwtch says communication is end-to-end encrypted over those services. Both participants must be online for peer-to-peer chat. Group conversations and offline delivery use a third-party server designed to learn as little as possible about message contents or metadata. Group messaging is experimental: users must enable the Experiments and Group Experiment settings, and the project calls metadata-resistant group communication an active research area. Conversation history is not preserved between sessions by default, though it can be enabled for an individual conversation. The protocol is open, allowing bots, services, and interfaces to integrate with Cwtch; core library, Go bindings, and interface code are linked as open source. There is no global display-name registry, which the security handbook says increases impersonation risk. The project recommends version 1.17.2, released October 2, 2026, for security fixes. The plan costs nothing.