Kanvo vs Signal

The privacy benchmark: end-to-end by default, no AI, no API. Here is what Signal does better, where it stops, and what changes with Kanvo.

Signal and Kanvo, head to head

Encryption by default everywhere, message requests for strangers, and usernames that hide your number. Run by a non-profit.

Where Signal is better

Encryption by default everywhere, message requests for strangers, and usernames that hide your number. Run by a non-profit.

Where it stops

Still needs a phone number to register, has no web app, no official bot API, no AI, and nothing from your other apps.

What changes with Kanvo

Kanvo's private conversations use MLS, the IETF standard, for the same guarantee — and every other conversation gets search, summaries and an agent Signal deliberately does not offer.

Kanvo and Signal, side by side

The rows from the full comparison, for these two.

What Kanvo is not

The parts that do not go our way, so you can decide with all of it.

Questions people ask

Kanvo beside iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, Slack and Beeper, or all of them on Compare.

Sources on Signal

Signal belongs to Signal Foundation. Kanvo is not affiliated with or endorsed by Signal Foundation.