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Jami Review

Depends

Should I use Jami?

Jami - the distributed and open source communication platform - jami.net

· 1 month ago

Great fit for privacy-minded individuals and open-source users who tolerate rough edges. Not a dependable business messaging tool — reliability and support complaints recur across forums.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~25 public sources; most snippets truncated, so quotes are partial and sentiment drawn largely from titles.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Jami (open source)

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
JAMS (enterprise)Not published

Best for

  • Privacy-focused individuals
  • Open-source and GNU advocates
  • Low-infrastructure or offline-first settings
  • Self-hosting experimenters

Not for

  • Businesses needing reliable daily team chat
  • Teams wanting vendor SLAs and support contracts
  • Anyone onboarding non-technical contacts
  • Slack-style workflows with integrations

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Enterprise JAMS pricing not published; requires Jami Store sales contact

medium

Corporate networks must whitelist domains and ports (dhtproxy servers)

medium

Free-tier support is community forum only; reliability threads stay unresolved

low

Official security page appears missing, limiting published security guidance

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Completely free and open-source; no accounts or subscriptions
  • End-to-end encrypted and fully peer-to-peer, no central servers
  • Cross-platform: Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, iOS; official GNU package
  • Optional JAMS enterprise server for user and device management

Cons

  • Reliability doubts recur: 'Has anyone actually got Jami to work reliably?'
  • Fans struggle to convert contacts; small user base
  • Two CVEs disclosed in 2023, including local denial-of-service
  • Windows client problems reported on official forum

Sources & method

- 12 sources - End-to-end encrypted and peer-to-peer by design; two 2023 CVEs disclosed, trackers list four total.

official x4review x6security x2
  • CVE-2023-3433 — Local Denial of Service, Publicly disclosed by Black Lantern Security; local DoS in the Jami application.
  • CVE-2023-3434 — Input validation flaw (CVSS 5.4), Medium-severity flaw allowing an attacker to send crafted input; tracked on NVD.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free, open-source, unlimited use
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Reliability complaints dominate user forums
  • Feature depth: 3/5. Calls, chat, sharing, plus enterprise account management
  • Support quality: 2/5. Community forum only; reliability threads unresolved
  • Security posture: 3/5. E2EE and P2P, but two 2023 CVEs
  • $0 Personal price Free, unlimited messaging and calls
  • Open source License GNU package, peer-to-peer
  • 2 (2023) CVEs disclosed Local DoS; medium input-validation flaw
  • JAMS Enterprise tier Via Jami Store; pricing unpublished

Pricing

Jami (open source)

$0

  • Unlimited messaging, audio and video calls
  • End-to-end encrypted, peer-to-peer
  • All major platforms

JAMS (enterprise)

Not published

  • User and device management
  • Sold via Jami Store

Security

End-to-end encrypted and peer-to-peer by design; two 2023 CVEs disclosed, trackers list four total.

  • CVE-2023-3433 — Local Denial of ServicePublicly disclosed by Black Lantern Security; local DoS in the Jami application.⁸
  • CVE-2023-3434 — Input validation flaw (CVSS 5.4)Medium-severity flaw allowing an attacker to send crafted input; tracked on NVD.⁹

What users say

Users admire the privacy architecture but repeatedly question whether Jami works reliably for daily use.

“I really want to like Jami”
Reddit, r/selfhosted
“I keep trying to convert”
Reddit, r/privacy
“I've been trying Jami off and on”
Jami Forum

Alternatives

Compare Jami with each alternative.

  • Signal

    Best-known private messenger; far easier to get contacts onto

  • Jitsi Meet

    Open-source video meetings; simpler for scheduled calls

  • Matrix / Element

    Federated encrypted chat with larger ecosystem and bridges

  • Conversations (XMPP)

    Lightweight XMPP messaging; easy self-hosting

Full analysis

Based on ~25 public sources; most snippets truncated, so quotes are partial and sentiment drawn largely from titles.

Free, private, P2P messenger privacy fans want to love — but reliability threads never stop.

Methodology

Based on ~25 public sources; most snippets truncated, so quotes are partial and sentiment drawn largely from titles.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Jami official sitejami.net
    official
  2. Jami on Google Playplay.google.com
    official
  3. Discover Jami for the Enterprise — Jami Storejami.biz
    official
  4. Has anyone actually got Jami to work reliably? — Jami Forumforum.jami.net
    review
  5. Is anyone using Jami and liking it? — Reddit r/selfhostedreddit.com
    review
  6. How come Jami isn't the go-to messaging app for privacy? — Reddit r/privacyreddit.com
    review
  7. Jami: A Versatile Open-Source Distributed Communication Platform — It's FOSSitsfoss.com
    review
  8. Jami Local DoS and QRC issues — Black Lantern Securityblog.blacklanternsecurity.com
    security
  9. CVE-2023-3434 Detail — NVDnvd.nist.gov
    security
  10. Jami problems with Windows client — Jami Forumforum.jami.net
    review
  11. Domains needed to use Jami — Jami Forumforum.jami.net
    official
  12. Top Jami Alternatives — AlternativeToalternativeto.net
    review

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