Comparison

Sandes vs Parichay

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Sandes

An indigenous instant messaging platform designed for government organizations, offering end-to-end encrypted communication. It supports encrypted backups and OTP services, with privacy governed by Indian government regulations. Integration with other government systems is available at no cost.

Highlights
  • End-to-end encrypted messaging
  • Encrypted backup
  • Encrypted OTP service
  • Government infrastructure hosting
  • Integration with government systems
  • Free to use
Features
Read full description

Sandes is an open source based indigenous instant messaging platform developed by NIC, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India to facilitate instant messaging communication in Government organisations. It is hosted exclusively at Government infrastructure. It supports end to end encrypted messaging and encrypted backup and encrypted OTP service. Its privacy and data policy is governed by rules and regulations of the Government of India. Sandes can be integrated with other Government communications systems for sending encrypted messages without any cost. Currently Sandes is integrated with NIC email, DigiLocker and e-office. At present, full features of Sandes app are available only to the Government verified users. Employees of Government organisation need to contact the Nodal officer of their Ministry/ Department for verification. For information about Nodal officers write to us at support-sandes[at]nic[dot]in

About

Parichay

Features
Read full description

Parichay - is a single point destination for our Shri Dakshin Bharat Kutch Kadva Patidar Sanatan Samaj. - Users can search information about samaj members like name, phone number and other details. - Get Notification and Information about events happening in our Samaj. - Read our samaj publications like sanatan dharma patrika etc., without even downloading them.

Screenshots

Sandes4 screens
Parichay4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Sandes at every 5 weeks against Parichay's every 3 months. Parichay's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sandes ships an update every 5 weeks, Parichay every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Sandes versus Parichay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSandesParichay
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.6 (5 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews56.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size68 MB31 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNICJignesh Patel

In-app purchases

None

Sandes

No in-app purchases

None

Parichay

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sandes free?
Sandes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Parichay free?
Parichay is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Sandes or Parichay have ads?
Neither Sandes nor Parichay shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sandes or Parichay?
Sandes ships an update every 5 weeks, and Parichay every 3 months. Most recently, Sandes was updated on September 26, 2026 and Parichay on September 9, 2026.

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