--- description: Learn more about Element price, benefits, and disadvantages for businesses in South Africa. Read reviews from verified users and discover similar tools. image: https://gdm-localsites-assets-gfprod.imgix.net/images/capterra/og_logo-e5a8c001ed0bd1bb922639230fcea71a.png?auto=format%2Cenhance%2Ccompress title: Element Price, Reviews & Features - Capterra South Africa 2026 --- Breadcrumb: [Home](/) > [Collaboration Software](/directory/15/collaboration/software) > [Element](/software/214578/element) # Element Canonical: https://www.capterra.co.za/software/214578/element Page: 1 / 2\ Next: [Next page](https://www.capterra.co.za/software/214578/element?page=2) > Element is a secure messaging app and collaboration platform built on Matrix: a decentralised and end-to-end encrypted protocol. > > Verdict: Rated **4.5/5** by 10 users. Top-rated for **Likelihood to recommend**. ----- ## Overview ### Who Uses Element? For enterprises and governments that want secure communication and flexible federation, protected by end-to-end encryption. ## Quick Stats & Ratings | Metric | Rating | Detail | | **Overall** | **4.5/5** | 10 Reviews | | Ease of Use | 4.1/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Customer Support | 4.0/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Value for Money | 4.6/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Features | 4.4/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Recommendation percentage | 90% | (9/10 Likelihood to recommend) | ## About the vendor - **Company**: Element ## Commercial Context - **Starting Price**: US$5,00 - **Pricing model**: Per User (Free version available) (Free Trial) - **Target Audience**: 51–200, 201–500, 501–1 000, 1 001–5 000, 5 001–10 000, 10 000+ - **Deployment & Platforms**: Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, Mac (Desktop), Windows (Desktop), Linux (Desktop), Windows (On-Premise), Linux (On-Premise), Chromebook (Desktop), Android (Mobile), iPhone (Mobile), iPad (Mobile) - **Supported Languages**: Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, European Portuguese, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian - **Available Countries**: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium and 208 more ## Features - @mentions - Alerts/Notifications - Chat/Messaging - Collaboration Tools - Mobile Access ## Integrations (11 total) - Discord - GitHub - GitLab - Google Calendar - Grafana - Jira - Jitsi - Microsoft Teams - Slack - Telegram - WhatsApp ## Support Options - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - 24/7 (Live rep) - Chat ## Category - [Collaboration Software](https://www.capterra.co.za/directory/15/collaboration/software) ## Alternatives 1. [Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.co.za/software/168668/microsoft-teams) — 4.5/5 (10940 reviews) 2. [Google Workspace](https://www.capterra.co.za/software/168389/google-workspace) — 4.7/5 (17483 reviews) 3. [Slack](https://www.capterra.co.za/software/135003/slack) — 4.7/5 (24046 reviews) 4. [Zoom Workplace](https://www.capterra.co.za/software/144037/zoom-video-conferencing) — 4.6/5 (14526 reviews) 5. [Microsoft 365](https://www.capterra.co.za/software/58688/microsoft-365) — 4.6/5 (14035 reviews) ## Reviews ### "Musliah's review" — 4.0/5 > **Musliah** | *06 July 2022* | Higher Education | Recommendation rating: 8.0/10 > > **Pros**: Tracking is used to capture all test results and monitor problems for our programs. We keep track of all our pilot projects and trial runs in the testing area. We employ planning to monitor operational requirements and link them with test instances. > > **Cons**: Reporting could be considerably more effective by adding specific formats to catch errors in the process. For example, comprehensive incident reports screw up using photo formats other than the standard .jpg format. ----- ### "Element bridges our org's internal communication tools" — 5.0/5 > **Brendan** | *15 March 2021* | Nonprofit Organization Management | Recommendation rating: 9.0/10 > > **Pros**: Element provides our organization with an open source and user-friendly enterprise SaaS solution to bridge our internal communication tools. Additionally, it provides us with a platform for true end-to-end encrypted conversations. > > **Cons**: Logging in to our SaaS instance through the desktop isn't super intuitive, as it requires the end user to manually input our server hostname. ----- ### "Great for Remote Work" — 4.0/5 > **Adam** | *11 August 2021* | Real Estate | Recommendation rating: 7.0/10 > > **Pros**: I've used Element now for a while and feel like the screen share and mobile upload features are as slick as they get. > > **Cons**: I think they could improve on the initial set-up and onboarding, but once you're on. Very smooth. ----- ### "Very good value for an open-source product" — 4.0/5 > **Verified Reviewer** | *05 January 2024* | Information Technology & Services | Recommendation rating: 9.0/10 > > **Pros**: It is a feature rich web client for the Matrix server. It's also updated frequently and new features are added all the time. It's easy to setup, this was also one of the reasons we chose it, as we need to be in contact with non-technical users. It has "rooms" functionality for grouping people, and these do support automation via bots. Most importantly, it supports end-to-end encryption, so we did not have to worry about the server used (note however that bots only work if end-to-end encryption is turned off for that specific room) > > **Cons**: The chat functionality has all the bells and whistles, but the threading is a bit clunky. Sometimes, the messages remain unread, making it hard to keep track of what was read and what wasn't. This has been greatly improved with the latest updates from 2023, but it still happens from time-to-time. Element uses Jitsi for video call integration, meaning that a Jitsi instance should be deployed somewhere before using this feature. > > Overall, we received very good feedback from everyone using it - this is especially important since we migrated to Element from Microsoft Teams. The pricing difference was clearly a plus, when talking 200+ users. Note however that this is just a chat client - setting up the on-premise backing servers (this was in our case Matrix + Jitsi) involved extra technical steps; but the client setup itself is as basic as it can get. ----- ### "Secure and easy chat" — 4.0/5 > **Smain** | *14 January 2023* | Health, Wellness & Fitness | Recommendation rating: 8.0/10 > > **Pros**: Easy to open a new room and invite pets to share info. > > **Cons**: The app in my phone takes a lot of storage space probably due to previous files I've shared with my friends > > Great app so far ----- Page: 1 / 2\ Next: [Next page](https://www.capterra.co.za/software/214578/element?page=2) ## Links - [View on Capterra](https://www.capterra.co.za/software/214578/element) ## This page is available in the following languages | Locale | URL | | de | | | de-AT | | | de-CH | | | en | | | en-AE | | | en-AU | | | en-CA | | | en-GB | | | en-IE | | | en-IL | | | en-IN | | | en-NZ | | | en-SG | | | en-ZA | | | es | | | es-AR | | | es-CL | | | es-CO | | | es-CR | | | es-DO | | | es-EC | | | es-MX | | | es-PA | | | es-PE | | | fr | | | fr-BE | | | fr-CA | | | fr-LU | | | it | | | ja | | | ko | | | nl | | | nl-BE | | | pl | | | pt | | | pt-PT | | | sv | | | tr | | ----- ## Structured Data