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Comparison · Comms
Element vs Mailu
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Element and Mailu — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Element vs Mailu: at a glance
What is Element?
Element 1.12.34 RC pops calls into picture-in-picture and lets modules shut off public rooms.
Element Web spent October on crypto UX: mandatory device verification, removal of guest tokens and NEB links, and a shorter recovery-key flow in 1.12.33. The 1.12.34 release candidate widens the scope. Element Call can move into an OS-level picture-in-picture window, modules can disable public rooms entirely, users can generate a recovery key when logging out of their last device, and users with no encrypted chats see a softer reset warning.
What is Mailu?
Mailu's October: patched PHP for webmail, and a resolver that reports DNS failures
Mailu's 2024.06 branch shipped six pinned releases in October, each tied to a single issue. Three dealt with the resolver: handling the DNSSEC KSK rollover, then making the healthcheck fail on SERVFAIL, re-shipped once. Three were webmail: Roundcube 1.6.20, mitigations for the PHP2Shell CVEs, and then the patched PHP runtime. Late September releases fixed boolean settings that could not be turned off and stale webmail sessions after switching accounts via SSO.
Element vs Mailu: editorial side-by-side
Element
5.0COMMS
Element 1.12.34 RC pops calls into picture-in-picture and lets modules shut off public rooms.
◆ Current state
Element Web spent October on crypto UX: mandatory device verification, removal of guest tokens and NEB links, and a shorter recovery-key flow in 1.12.33. The 1.12.34 release candidate widens the scope. Element Call can move into an OS-level picture-in-picture window, modules can disable public rooms entirely, users can generate a recovery key when logging out of their last device, and users with no encrypted chats see a softer reset warning.
◆ Where it's heading
Two tracks run in parallel. The encryption work is moving from enforcement to lowering the cost of mistakes, with prompts at logout and gentler reset paths. The Module API keeps gaining switches that let deployments restrict the client, which suits managed installs.
◆ Prediction
Expect 1.12.34 to ship close to this RC, with further Module API controls and the labs timeline, now showing read receipts, moving toward default.
Mailu
5.0COMMS
Mailu's October: patched PHP for webmail, and a resolver that reports DNS failures
◆ Current state
Mailu's 2024.06 branch shipped six pinned releases in October, each tied to a single issue. Three dealt with the resolver: handling the DNSSEC KSK rollover, then making the healthcheck fail on SERVFAIL, re-shipped once. Three were webmail: Roundcube 1.6.20, mitigations for the PHP2Shell CVEs, and then the patched PHP runtime. Late September releases fixed boolean settings that could not be turned off and stale webmail sessions after switching accounts via SSO.
◆ Where it's heading
The project remains in one-fix-per-release maintenance on the 2024.06 line, with upstream webmail and PHP security driving much of the cadence. Nothing in the entries points to a new main release.
◆ Prediction
The next releases will most likely follow upstream Roundcube or PHP security fixes, as three of the last six did.
Alternatives to Element and Mailu
Other Comms 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 or Mailu.
Subsplash
Subsplash gives church staff notes on every person and every Workflow card.
Maddy
maddy's latest release is a security fix, five months after its last feature work.
Grain
Grain adds consent controls and rule-based privacy as its meeting data reaches more AI tools.
Converse.js
Converse.js 14.0.1 fixes OMEMO:2 group decryption broken by Chromium 153.
Element iOS
Element Classic now asks its own users to move to Element X, if their server opts in.
See all Element alternatives → · See all Mailu alternatives →
Recent activity from Element and Mailu
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 13h agoElement1.12.34 RC: call picture-in-picture, module switch for public rooms
- 7d agoElementElement 1.12.33 ships simpler recovery keys, ends libolm migration
- 11d agoMailuMailu ships patched PHP for PHP2Shell CVEs
- 12d agoMailuMailu mitigates PHP2Shell webmail CVEs
- 14d agoMailuMailu 2024.06.65: Roundcube 1.6.20 update
- 15d agoElement1.12.33 RC simplifies recovery keys, drops libolm migration
- 18d agoElementElement 1.12.32 removes guest tokens and NEB links to fix 2 advisories
- 19d agoMailu2024.06.64 re-ships the resolver healthcheck fix
- 21d agoMailu2024.06.63 makes the resolver healthcheck catch SERVFAIL
- 21d agoElementElement 1.12.31 makes device verification mandatory by default
- 22d agoMailu2024.06.62 handles the DNSSEC KSK rollover
- 26d agoElement1.12.31 second release candidate, feature list unchanged
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Element and Mailu?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Element and Mailu are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Element better than Mailu?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Element and Mailu are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Comms products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Element?
Top Element alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Element alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/element-web for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Mailu?
Top Mailu alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Mailu alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mailu for the full list with editorial commentary on each.