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Comparison · Meetings
Element Call vs Nextcloud Talk
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Element Call and Nextcloud Talk — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Element Call vs Nextcloud Talk: at a glance
What is Element Call?
Element Call matures its mobile and embedded video experience across steady RC releases.
Element Call, the Matrix-native group video calling app, is iterating through rapid release candidates on its 0.19–0.20 line. The consistent thread is mobile and embedded maturation: edge-to-edge display, portrait one-on-one layouts, native Android back-gesture handling, a fast participant switcher, and a Promise.withResolvers polyfill for older WebViews. Group voice-call intents and legacy-JWT delayed-event delegation round out the work, alongside ongoing call-reliability fixes.
What is Nextcloud Talk?
Nextcloud Talk 24 is heading toward GA — permanent rooms, noise suppression, richer conversation organisation.
Talk 24's beta carried the substantive payload: 'Call from anywhere' through the avatar menu, permanent call rooms, advanced noise suppression, attachment grouping per conversation, and full tagging/sorting/grouping for the conversation list. Four RCs have followed with steady fixes across chat, SIP, federation, and admin access. The 22.x stable line is receiving parallel backports for the same federation and SIP issues.
Element Call vs Nextcloud Talk: editorial side-by-side
Element Call
5.0MEETINGS
Element Call matures its mobile and embedded video experience across steady RC releases.
◆ Current state
Element Call, the Matrix-native group video calling app, is iterating through rapid release candidates on its 0.19–0.20 line. The consistent thread is mobile and embedded maturation: edge-to-edge display, portrait one-on-one layouts, native Android back-gesture handling, a fast participant switcher, and a Promise.withResolvers polyfill for older WebViews. Group voice-call intents and legacy-JWT delayed-event delegation round out the work, alongside ongoing call-reliability fixes.
◆ Where it's heading
Development is balanced between features and fixes but weighted toward making Element Call work well as an embedded, mobile widget inside Matrix clients — layout, input handling, and compatibility with constrained WebViews. The RC-heavy cadence signals careful stabilization rather than big-bang releases. Expect the mobile and embedded surface to keep filling in.
◆ Prediction
Next releases will likely continue hardening the embedded and mobile experience — more layout, switcher, and WebView-compatibility work — toward a stable 0.20 cut.
Nextcloud Talk
6.3MEETINGS
Nextcloud Talk 24 is heading toward GA — permanent rooms, noise suppression, richer conversation organisation.
◆ Current state
Talk 24's beta carried the substantive payload: 'Call from anywhere' through the avatar menu, permanent call rooms, advanced noise suppression, attachment grouping per conversation, and full tagging/sorting/grouping for the conversation list. Four RCs have followed with steady fixes across chat, SIP, federation, and admin access. The 22.x stable line is receiving parallel backports for the same federation and SIP issues.
◆ Where it's heading
The 24.x cycle is the most consequential Talk release in some time, pulling the product toward feature parity with hosted meeting suites while preserving federation and self-hosting. Late-cycle work is overwhelmingly stability and admin polish, suggesting GA is close. Hub 26 Spring is now the floor.
◆ Prediction
Expect Talk 24.0.0 GA within the next few release cycles, followed by minor patch trains on 22.x and 21.x stable branches. Next-cycle investment likely turns to bot/agent extensibility and richer presence and scheduling primitives.
Alternatives to Element Call and Nextcloud Talk
Other Meetings products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Element Call or Nextcloud Talk.
Webex
Webex leans into agentic collaboration at Cisco Live 2026, heavier on positioning than shipped features.
3CX
3CX hardens V20 Update 9 around AI-agent calling while extending enterprise security and deployment surface.
Eventscase
Eventscase is pushing AI for events via its EVA WhatsApp assistant and a fresh whitepaper, on top of a steady MICE content drumbeat.
Intermedia
Intermedia's public feed is a UCaaS buyer-research SEO program, not a product changelog.
Mux
Mux is pivoting from video infrastructure to hosted AI workflows, with Robots as the new center of gravity.
See all Element Call alternatives → · See all Nextcloud Talk alternatives →
Recent activity from Element Call and Nextcloud Talk
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoNextcloud TalkTalk 24 RC.4: chat hotkey and SIP dial-out fixes
- 1d agoElement Callv0.20.1-rc.1: WebView compatibility polyfill and fixes
- 6d agoNextcloud TalkTalk 24 RC.3: video-while-screenshare, federation, and admin fixes
- 6d agoNextcloud TalkTalk 22.0.13: backport of RC.3 fixes to 22.x stable
- 13d agoNextcloud TalkTalk 24 RC.2: Raise hand in reactions menu, recording and tag fixes
- 14d agoElement Callv0.20.0-rc.1: fast switcher and portrait 1:1 layout
- 21d agoNextcloud TalkTalk 24 RC.1: email guests without public link, force-lobby preset
- 23d agoElement Callv0.19.3: edge-to-edge display and sync grace period
- 1mo agoNextcloud TalkTalk 24 beta: permanent rooms, noise suppression, conversation tagging ⚡
- 1mo agoElement Callv0.19.2: group voice-call intents and footer rework
- 1mo agoElement Callv0.19.1-rc2: fix joiner media-publish race
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Element Call and Nextcloud Talk?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Nextcloud Talk is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Element Call better than Nextcloud Talk?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Nextcloud Talk is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Meetings products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Element Call?
Top Element Call alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Element Call alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/element-call for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Nextcloud Talk?
Top Nextcloud Talk alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Nextcloud Talk alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/nextcloud-talk for the full list with editorial commentary on each.