Comparison

Onym Messenger vs Orbeo

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

Head to head
About

Onym Messenger

Features
Read full description

Onym is a private messenger built on one idea: your conversations are yours. END-TO-END ENCRYPTED Only the people in your group can read what's sent. Onym's servers never see your messages. NO PHONE NUMBER, NO EMAIL Your identity is a cryptographic key you own — not your contact info. Create one in seconds, and make as many as you like. NO CENTRAL SERVER Group membership is anchored on the Stellar network, not owned by us. There's no company account that can lock you out. START A CHAT WITH ONE LINK Spin up an encrypted group and share a single invite link. People join later without exchanging any keys. BRING YOUR OWN INFRASTRUCTURE Onym carries messages and media over open Nostr relays and Blossom servers. Use the defaults, or point the app at your own instances for maximum privacy. MULTIPLE IDENTITIES Keep contacts and chats cleanly separated. Switch between identities with a tap. YOU HOLD THE KEYS A recovery phrase restores your identity on a new device. Lose it and no one — including us — can recover it. Onym doesn't ask who you are. No accounts, no profiles, no tracking, no ads. Just private conversations you control. Built by people who think privacy is a right.

About

Orbeo

A private messenger that uses a unique ID instead of a phone number. It offers rich messaging features, voice and video calls, and group/channel communication without ads or third-party tracking.

Highlights
  • Phone number-free registration
  • Rich messaging features
  • Voice and video calls
  • Groups and channels
  • File sharing up to 50 MB
  • Cross-platform support
Features
Read full description

Orbeo is a messenger that does not need your phone number. Instead of a number there is a short Orbeo ID. Only the people you hand it to can find you: the app never reads your address book, never looks people up by number, and never suggests you to strangers. WHAT IS THERE Messages Quoted replies, editing and deleting on both sides, reactions, stickers. Read receipts and a typing indicator, as they should be. Photos, voice, video and files A photo opens full screen. Voice records two ways: hold the button, or tap once and keep talking hands-free. Double-tap the microphone, or swipe up from it, for a square video message from the front camera. Video and files up to 50 MB. Calls Voice and video, your own camera in the corner, switchable to the front lens. Connection quality is on screen: latency and jitter in milliseconds. On iPhone an incoming call is shown by the system, like an ordinary phone call. Groups and channels A group is for the people you know. A channel is for readers, with an address like orbeo.me/c/name and discussion under each post. Three languages Interface, dates and plurals in English, Russian and Kazakh. Everywhere Phone, tablet and computer — one account. WHAT IS NOT THERE No advertising. No third-party analytics and no tracking pixels. Nothing about you is sold or passed on for marketing. Registration asks for neither a phone number nor an email address. PLAINLY, ABOUT THE IMPORTANT PART The only spare key to an account is a twelve-word recovery phrase. It is shown once, at sign-up: write it down on paper. There is no phone number and no email to fall back on, and without those words nobody can return the account to you — us included. Orbeo has no end-to-end encryption. Traffic to the server is encrypted, but messages are stored on the server in readable form — which is what makes your correspondence appear on a new device right after you sign in. We say this outright rather than let you assume otherwise. ORDER Report and block are in the menu of every conversation. Reports are reviewed by a human; an account that breaks the rules is limited or removed. You can delete your own account in Settings, immediately and without asking anyone. Terms of Use: https://orbeo.me/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://orbeo.me/privacy.html

Screenshots

Onym Messenger4 screens
Orbeo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Orbeo at 16.4 against Onym Messenger's 18.0. On price, update cadence, 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Onym Messenger ships an update every 5 days, Orbeo every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Onym Messenger versus Orbeo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOnym MessengerOrbeo
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.5 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB110 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperOnym OÜKirill Prikota

In-app purchases

None

Onym Messenger

No in-app purchases

None

Orbeo

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Onym Messenger free?
Onym Messenger is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Orbeo free?
Orbeo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Onym Messenger or Orbeo have ads?
Neither Onym Messenger nor Orbeo shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Onym Messenger or Orbeo?
Onym Messenger ships an update every 5 days, and Orbeo every 3 days. Most recently, Onym Messenger was updated on November 5, 2026 and Orbeo on October 31, 2026.

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