Comparison

Mumble vs Element X

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

Head to head
About

Mumble

This application offers high-quality, low-latency group voice chat for mobile devices. Connect to public or self-hosted servers to communicate with friends and other users globally. Enjoy features like push-to-talk, voice activation, and secure, encrypted connections.

Highlights
  • High quality, low latency voice chat
  • Access to thousands of public servers
  • SSL/TLS encryption
  • Push-to-Talk and Voice Activated modes
  • Text messaging
  • Echo cancellation
  • Bluetooth headset support
Features
Read full description

Mumble - High quality, low latency voice chat Mumble is a free group voice chat application. It allows you to talk to your friends on the go, and has finally arrived on the iOS platform. Simply find a public server and join it to chat with your friends! Mumble requires a connection to a server to function. Servers can be rented from commercial hosting companies. The Mumble server software is also available free-of-charge under and open source license, so individuals are free to create their own servers, without limitations. See https://www.mumble.info for more information regarding Mumble servers. Mumble provides the following features: • High quality, low latency voice chats via WiFi or 3G using state of the art codecs • Access to thousands of public servers -- free for you to use when chatting with friends • Ability to chat with hundreds of thousands of regular users of Mumble around the world • An easily accessible list of all of your favorite servers • Connect to and list available Mumble servers on the local network • SSL/TLS encryption of connections to remote servers; voice data encrypted using OCB2-AES128 • Strong and flexible authentication with remote servers using either passwords or X.509 certificates • Advanced audio configuration, allowing users to configure the quality and bandwidth requirements of their transmitted audio (perfect for 3G connections with slow upload) • Push-to-Talk and Voice Activated audio transmission modes (for hands-free operation) • Flexible user-to-user and user-to-channel text messaging system for sharing links or images while talking • Basic user functionality on Mumble servers (server administration not possible) • Push-to-talk transmission mode. • Echo cancellation for the built-in microphone. • Bluetooth headset support. Mumble is open source software, developed collaboratively on the Internet. Mumble and its server software are available for free, for anyone to use. For more information about Mumble, please visit our website at http://www.mumbleapp.com.

About

Element X

Communicate securely and privately with instant messaging and video calls. This app offers robust features for individuals and communities, allowing you to own your data and choose where it's hosted. Enjoy real-time communication with synchronized history across all your devices.

Highlights
  • Real-time messaging
  • Video calls
  • Public and private rooms
  • Rich messaging features
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Data ownership and server choice
Features
Read full description

Freedom to communicate on your own terms For individuals and communities - private communication between family, friends, hobby groups, clubs, etc. Element X gives you fast, secure and private instant messaging and video calls built on Matrix, the open standard for real-time communication. This is a free and open-source app maintained at https://github.com/element-hq/element-x-ios Stay in touch with friends, family and communities with: • Real time messaging & video calls • Public rooms for open group communication • Private rooms for closed group communication • Rich messaging features: emoji reactions, replies, polls, pinned messages and more. • Video calling while browsing messages. • Interoperability with other Matrix-based apps such as FluffyChat, Cinny and many more. Privacy-first Unlike some other messengers from Big Tech companies, we don’t mine your data or monitor your communications. Own your conversations Choose where to host your data - from any public server (the largest free server is matrix.org, but there are plenty of others to choose from) to creating your own personal server and hosting it on your own domain. This ability to choose a server is a large part of what differentiates us from other real time communication apps. However you host, you have ownership; it’s your data. You’re not the product. You’re in control. Communicate in real time, all the time Use Element everywhere. Stay in touch wherever you are with fully synchronised message history across all your devices, including on the web at https://app.element.io Element X is our next-generation app If you’re using the previous-generation Element Classic app, it’s time to try Element X! It’s faster, easier to use, and more powerful than the classic app. It’s better in every way and we’re adding new features all the time.

Screenshots

Mumble4 screens
Element X4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Element X at fortnightly against Mumble's every 4 months. Element X also leads on rating (3.4 vs 3.1). Mumble's advantage is review sentiment (67% vs 39%) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 18.5). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Element X holds the better App Store score, 3.4 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 64 and 162 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Mumble's written reviews are positive against 39% of Element X's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mumble ships an update every 4 months, Element X fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Mumble versus Element X: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMumbleElement X
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.1 (64 ratings)3.4 (162 ratings) — better
Positive reviews67.1% of reviews — better38.9% of reviews
Number of ratings64162 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS8.0 — better18.5
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB341 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperMikkel KrautzVector Creations Limited

Customer experience

Mumble

All ratings61 ratings
Positive54.1%
Neutral8.2%
Negative37.7%
Written reviews164 reviews
Positive67.1%
Neutral12.8%
Negative20.1%

Element X

All ratings162 ratings
Positive56.8%
Neutral13.6%
Negative29.6%
Written reviews185 reviews
Positive38.9%
Neutral20.0%
Negative41.1%

Bugs and requests

Mumble

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Incompatible with newer iOS versions
  • Inability to connect to servers
  • Freezing on login screen
  • Disconnects when switching networks

Requested features

7 requests
  • Push-to-talk option
  • Bluetooth headset support
  • Noise cancellation
  • Admin/moderation features
  • iPad-optimized UI
Show 2 more
  • Ability to change username
  • Whisper/shout functionality

Element X

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Mumble

No in-app purchases

None

Element X

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mumble free?
Mumble is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Element X free?
Element X is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mumble or Element X?
Element X is rated higher. Mumble averages 3.1 out of 5 from 64 ratings, while Element X averages 3.4 from 162 ratings.
Do Mumble or Element X have ads?
Neither Mumble nor Element X shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mumble or Element X?
Mumble ships an update every 4 months, and Element X fortnightly. Most recently, Mumble was updated on October 21, 2026 and Element X on October 22, 2026.

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