What's the difference between Spectral and ...

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...Riot Web/Desktop?

  • Riot is the most feature-rich Matrix client, supporting integrations, custom widgets, VoIP, etc.
  • Spectral does not support E2EE yet. Riot has the best E2EE support in all clients.
  • Spectral uses Qt and is a native Matrix client. Riot is a web application.
  • Spectral uses far less RAM.
  • Riot is designed as an IRC/Slack alternative. Spectral is designed as a WhatsApp/Telegram/Google Hangouts alternative.

...Nheko?

  • Spectral uses libQuotient as SDK, a generic library maintained by Quotient for developing Matrix applications; Nheko uses mtxclient written by Nheko's original author(mujx).
  • Although both Spectral and Nheko use Qt, Spectral's backend uses Qt, while Nheko's backend uses Boost.
  • Spectral does not have E2EE support yet. Nheko has experimental E2EE support.
  • Spectral's UI uses QtQuick Controls. Nheko's UI uses Qt Widgets.
  • Nheko supports communities.

...Fractal?

  • Fractal uses Rust and GTK. Spectral uses C++ and Qt. So codes are nowhere close.
  • Fractal is GNOME's de facto Matrix client. Spectral has a KDE incubation plan, though it is being worked on.
  • Fractal targets GNU/Linux. Spectral targets Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux.
  • Spectral is intended to look beautiful on all platforms. Fractal's look fits GNOME environments better.
  • Fractal is considered to be a bit more stable than Spectral.

...Quaternion?

  • Quaternion and Spectral use the same SDK, controller logic, list model with only a few modifications. There are only minor differences between these codes.
  • Spectral's UI uses only QtQuick Controls. Quaternion's UI uses Qt Widgets and QtQuick Controls.
  • Spectral never has a native look and feel. Quaternion looks native on Qt-based environments.

...FluffyChat?

  • Spectral uses libQuotient as SDK, a generic library maintained by Quotient for developing Matrix applications; FluffyChat does not use any Matrix SDK.
  • Spectral's backend is written in C++. FluffyChat's backend is written in JavaScript.
  • FluffyChat targets Ubuntu Touch. Spectral targets Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux.