Snikket Hosting is now available!

We originally launched the Snikket project because we believe that people need an alternative to centralized single-owner communication systems. Those platforms, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, require consent to undesirable terms and privacy policies. Even Signal, while cryptographically a marvel, is still subject to the control of a single organization and a single jurisdiction. Plus, most of these platforms are tied to your phone number, which makes them unusable or unsafe for some people.

We believe that the ideal online communication network is larger than any single organization, and that it should offer people freedom and choice. That’s why we built Snikket on open standards (XMPP) and everything we produce is open source, so that people can inspect it and run it themselves.

However, it became increasingly clear that, as easy as we make self-hosting, it’s always going to require skills or time that people don’t have. If we want everyone to be a part of this network, we can’t expect them all to learn Linux, SSH and system administration!

For some time now, we have been working on Snikket Hosting, a simple solution that enables anyone to get their own Snikket instance running for their family, friends, clubs, etc. with no technical knowledge and just a few clicks.

Thanks to the help and feedback from all our beta testers, we’re happy to announce that Snikket Hosting is now publicly available! 🚀

Our goal, as a not-for-profit organization, is to run this sustainably. Our business model is a simple one that does not involve data harvesting/mining. Instead we charge a simple fee per instance that you host with us (each instance can have multiple users). This fee pays for the servers, maintenance and other associated costs. Any extra revenue is used to further our goals - building and promoting sustainable communication solutions.

Snikket will continue to be available for self-hosting, as always. Today’s launch is about providing new ways to get started with Snikket, not replacing the options that are already available. If you are already self-hosting Snikket, or planning to, nothing is changing for you. Though please do donate to support the project, even a little helps!

🪙 Pricing

The current cost for a hosted instance is roughly $6 USD or €5.50 EUR per month, however the exact price may vary depending on your currency, region and how you pay - to take into account taxes, fees and the affordability in different regions.

This last point was a concern that several people raised with us during the beta period. After currency conversion, the average income between countries can still vary dramatically, sometimes up to 2x or more. This puts people from some regions at a disadvantage when purchasing many online services that focus only on people in the US or Europe. We believe in a global communication network, so we hope that factoring this into our price calculation will help to bridge that divide.

All our plans include a 14-day trial period, so you can see what you’re getting before we take any payment.

🦸 Beta users

As we promised when adding you to the beta, all beta users will be able to continue using the service for free for a period of time. We will roll out pricing for beta users in the coming months, including a special offer in recognition of your support! You will have at least 2 months of notice before we require you to upgrade to a paid plan. We will email you with details when it’s ready.

☎️ JMP partnership

Our partnership with JMP.chat continues! Every active JMP subscription is entitled to a free Snikket instance, which is a great complement to their service when SMS is not enough (unlike SMS, Snikket supports things like end-to-end encryption and video calling).

If you are currently using a hosted Snikket instance that JMP provided to you, nothing will change for you.

However, if you signed up directly with Snikket during the beta period (via my.snikket.org), then you are not currently included in JMP’s special offer. You can either choose to pay for your instance when the time comes (see ‘Beta users’ above), or we can move your instance to JMP’s management. If you choose the latter, your instance will be managed by JMP and you will no longer have access to it via the Snikket Hosting dashboard. Access to your instance’s web portal will not be affected either way.

💬 Support and feedback

While we are no longer in beta, this is still new ground for us. If you encounter any problems or simply have questions, feel free to contact us at hosting@snikket.org and we’ll do our best to help.

❤️ Thanks

We want to thank all of our community, beta testers, sponsors and donors, including JMP.chat, for their support in enabling this launch. Thanks also to Neil from decoded.legal for assistance with many of the legal aspects of launching this kind of service.

😺 Curious to try out Snikket?

Sign up for Snikket Hosting here!