# Build Your Own Telegram Alternative - Tool: Build Your Own SaaS Alternative - Last updated: May 2026 ## TL;DR Telegram reached 1 billion MAU in March 2025 and reported $547M profit on over $1B revenue in 2024, but since September 2024 it hands over user IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities with valid legal requests. Only Secret Chats use true E2EE — regular cloud chats are server-side encrypted. A custom alternative costs $400k-$1M for full parity, or $400k-$600k for a vertical implementation with genuine E2EE by default. ## Frequently asked questions ### How much does it cost to build a Telegram alternative? A full-parity Telegram alternative built by an agency costs $400k-$1M and takes 8-12 months. A stripped-down vertical implementation (E2EE messaging for a specific industry, without mini-apps and mega-channels) costs $400k-$600k and takes 4-6 months. Infrastructure for serving 100k users runs approximately $50k/yr. ### How long does it take to build a Telegram clone? 4-6 months for a vertical implementation with E2EE messaging, file sharing, voice calls, and basic group chats. 8-12 months for full parity including large channels (200k+ subscribers), mini-apps, and bot platform. The E2EE implementation using libsignal takes 5-6 weeks — it's not the slowest component, but it requires careful engineering. ### Are there open-source Telegram alternatives? Yes — three notable options: SimpleX Chat (~6-7k GitHub stars, AGPL-3.0) uses no user identifiers at all for maximum privacy; Session (~4k stars, GPL-3.0) routes messages over onion networks without phone numbers; Matrix/Element (~12k stars, AGPL-3.0) offers federated E2EE with bridges to Telegram for migration. None match Telegram's 200k-member groups, but all provide stronger privacy guarantees. ### Is Telegram actually end-to-end encrypted? Only in Secret Chats — which must be manually initiated and are device-specific (not cloud-synced). Regular cloud chats, which represent the vast majority of Telegram usage, use server-side encryption where Telegram holds the decryption keys. Since September 2024, Telegram has stated it will share IP addresses and phone numbers with authorities on valid legal requests. This is meaningfully different from WhatsApp or Signal, where E2EE is the default for all messages. ### Can I self-host Telegram? Telegram provides a Telegram Database Library (TDLib) that apps can build on, but there is no official self-hosted Telegram server. The TDLib approach still routes through Telegram's servers. For true self-hosting, you must build a custom implementation or use Matrix/Element (which can bridge to Telegram). Telegram's server source code has not been released. ### What is the hardest part of building a Telegram alternative? The hardest problem is multi-device sync with E2EE: Telegram's cloud-sync model stores messages on servers (convenient) but requires Telegram to hold encryption keys (privacy compromise). A custom build that achieves both — synced history AND E2EE — requires per-device session keys, encrypted server-side storage with client-managed keys, and key rotation protocols. libsignal handles the cryptography; the engineering challenge is the sync state machine across devices. ### Can RapidDev build a custom Telegram alternative? Yes — RapidDev has built 600+ apps including encrypted messaging platforms and enterprise communication systems. For Telegram alternatives, we typically recommend a scoped vertical implementation rather than full parity — focusing on the specific use case (healthcare, government, enterprise) rather than trying to replicate all 1B-user features. Book a free consultation at rapidevelopers.com/contact. ### What happened to Telegram's privacy policy in 2024? In September 2024, following Pavel Durov's arrest in France, Telegram updated its policy to state it would hand over user IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities with valid legal requests. Previously, Telegram had a near-zero cooperation policy with law enforcement, which was a primary reason many privacy-conscious users chose it. The policy change did not affect Secret Chats' E2EE, but it did expose the metadata (who you are, where you connect from) that Telegram has always retained. --- Source: https://www.rapidevelopers.com/clone/telegram © RapidDev — https://www.rapidevelopers.com/clone/telegram