Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Element.io VS Task Session

Compare Element.io VS Task Session and see what are their differences

Element.io logo Element.io

Secure messaging app with strong end-to-end encryption, advanced group chat privacy settings, secure video calls for teams, encrypted communication using Matrix open network. Riot.im is now Element.

Task Session logo Task Session

Task Session is a powerful, user-friendly project management and CRM app designed to streamline workflow, track progress, and boost team collaboration. Manage tasks, deadlines, and communication with ease.
  • Element.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-20
  • Task Session kanban board
    kanban board //
    2026-08-27

Task Session | Self-Hosted CRM & Project Management Platform

Task Session is an all-in-one CRM and project management platform built for agencies, freelancers, consultants, and growing teams that want more control over their tools, data, and costs.

Instead of paying for separate CRM, project management, team communication, time tracking, and invoicing tools, Task Session brings everything together in one platform.

The software is self-hosted, so it runs on your own server and gives you full control over your business data. It can also be fully white-labeled with your own company name and branding.

Key Features

CRM & Sales Pipelines: Manage contacts, leads, deals, companies, and sales pipelines.

Projects & Tasks: Create projects, assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress.

Client Portal: Give clients their own portal to communicate, review work, access files, and stay updated.

Time Tracking & Attendance: Track working hours, attendance, and team activity.

Invoices & Billing: Create, send, and manage invoices directly from the platform.

Team Chat & Discussions: Keep internal communication connected to your projects and tasks.

Email Integration: Connect Gmail, Outlook, or SMTP and track email opens and clicks.

Files, Notes & Documents: Keep important files, notes, and business information organized in one place.

Dashboards & Reporting: Get a clear overview of projects, sales activity, invoices, and team performance.

Task Session is suitable for marketing and SEO agencies, law firms, consultants, software teams, designers, accountants, real estate businesses, and other service-based companies.

There are no per-user charges, so teams can add users without increasing their monthly software costs.

Your server. Your data. Your branding. One platform for managing your business.

Element.io

Pricing URL
-
$ Details
free
Platforms
-
Release Date
-
Startup details
Country
United Kingdom

Task Session

$ Details
$59 / Annually (Self-Hosted, Unlimited Users, 1 Website)
Platforms
Web
Release Date
2024 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
TX
City
Houston
Founder(s)
Alex Miller
Employees
10 - 19

Element.io features and specs

  • Open Source
    Element.io is open-source, meaning the code is freely accessible and can be modified by anyone. This allows for transparency, security audits, and customization.
  • Privacy and Security
    Element.io offers end-to-end encryption for secure communication, ensuring that only the intended recipients can read the messages.
  • Interoperability
    It supports the Matrix protocol, which allows for communication across different platforms and services, facilitating greater connectivity.
  • Rich Feature Set
    Element.io provides features such as voice and video calls, file sharing, and integrations with other services, making it suitable for both personal and team use.
  • Cross-Platform
    Available on various platforms including web, desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), and mobile (iOS, Android), ensuring accessibility from any device.
  • Customizability
    Users can personalize their experience through various settings and even set up their own server for full control over their data.

Possible disadvantages of Element.io

  • Complexity
    The extensive feature set and customization options can be overwhelming for new users, leading to a steeper learning curve.
  • Performance Issues
    Users have reported occasional performance issues such as slow response times and lag, particularly in larger rooms or with heavy media use.
  • User Interface
    While functional, the user interface may not be as polished or intuitive as other more mainstream messaging apps, which could impact usability.
  • Server Setup
    Setting up your own server for complete data control requires technical expertise and can be time-consuming, posing a barrier for non-technical users.
  • Limited Network Effect
    Despite its capabilities, Element.io has a smaller user base compared to giants like WhatsApp or Slack, which may limit its usefulness for some users.
  • Resource Intensive
    The application can be resource-intensive, particularly on older hardware, which may result in slower performance or increased battery consumption on mobile devices.

Task Session features and specs

  • CRM
    Track contacts, leads and clients in one place with visual sales pipelines
  • Project Management
    Create projects, assign work to your team and follow progress in real time
  • Task Management
    Tasks with due dates, sub-tasks, attachments, assignees and calendar view
  • Time Tracking
    Track work hours, billable time and team productivity in real time
  • Invoicing & Payments
    Create and send invoices, track payments and automate overdue reminders
  • Client Portal
    A dedicated portal where clients see project status, files, invoices and deadlines
  • Team Chat
    Real-time chat and discussions inside tasks and projects
  • File Management
    Store, share and organise project and client documents in one place
  • Email Integration
    Connect Gmail, Outlook or SMTP to send, receive and track emails
  • Attendance Management
    Log employee attendance and working hours in real time
  • Reports & Dashboard
    Dashboards for payments, receivables, projects, staff and clients
  • Self-Hosted
    Install on your own server with full control over your data

Analysis of Element.io

Overall verdict

  • Element.io is a good choice for those looking for a secure and privacy-focused communication platform with rich features and high customizability. Its open-source nature and ability to integrate with other services enhance its appeal to a wide range of users.

Why this product is good

  • Element.io, previously known as Riot.im, is considered a good platform due to its focus on security and privacy, offering end-to-end encryption for conversations. It is built on the Matrix protocol, which supports decentralized communication, making it a versatile and open-source choice for both individual and group communication. It is designed for interoperability and can integrate with other messaging and collaboration platforms. Additionally, it offers extensive customization options and support for both text and voice/video communications.

Recommended for

    Element.io is highly recommended for privacy-conscious users, open-source enthusiasts, tech-savvy individuals, organizations seeking secure internal communication channels, and communities needing decentralized and customizable messaging solutions.

Element.io videos

RIOT : Riot.im : A New World Of Open Communication!

Task Session videos

Task Session CRM Full Demo | All in One Business Suite

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Element.io and Task Session)
Communication
100 100%
0% 0
ERP
0 0%
100% 100
Group Chat & Notifications
CRM
0 0%
100% 100

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Element.io and Task Session.

What makes your product unique?

Task Session's answer:

Task Session puts both halves of client work in one place: the CRM where leads and clients live, and the workspace where the work actually gets delivered.

Most small teams pay for a CRM and a project tool separately, then spend the week copying data between them. Here a lead becomes a client, the client becomes a project, the project produces timesheets, and those timesheets turn into an invoice - without re-entering anything.

It is also self-hosted, so the whole system runs on your own server and your client data, contracts and invoices never leave it.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

Task Session's answer:

Small agencies, studios and freelancers who work directly with clients - digital and marketing agencies, design and development shops, consultants and service businesses, typically between 2 and 50 people.

The usual profile is a team that has outgrown spreadsheets, WhatsApp groups and a shared inbox, but does not want an enterprise suite or five separate subscriptions. They need client records, project delivery, billable hours and invoicing in one place, and they care about hosting it themselves so the client data stays on their own server.

What's the story behind your product?

Task Session's answer:

Task Session came out of the mess of running agency work across too many tools.

Leads sat in one CRM, projects in a second app, hours in a third, invoices in a spreadsheet, and client files were scattered across email. Every status update meant checking four places, and every invoice meant reconstructing the month from memory. The tools were fine on their own - the gaps between them were the problem.

So we built the workflow we actually wanted: contact to project to timesheet to invoice, in one system, running on our own server. We used it day to day for our own clients first, and it worked well enough that we packaged it up for other agencies and freelancers dealing with the same pile of disconnected apps.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Task Session's answer:

Three reasons: scope, ownership and cost.

Scope: CRM, projects, tasks, time tracking, attendance, invoicing, a client portal, chat and file management ship together. A small agency does not have to stitch four or five subscriptions into one workflow and then keep them in sync.

Ownership: Task Session is self-hosted, so your client list, project history and invoices sit on infrastructure you control. That matters when you are holding other people's data.

Cost: it is not a per-seat monthly bill that grows every time you hire, so adding a designer or an assistant does not add another recurring line item across three tools.

The trade-off is honest. If you want a hosted enterprise suite with a large app marketplace, a bigger platform will suit you better. Task Session is for teams that want the whole client workflow in one place, on their own server.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Task Session's answer:

Task Session is a self-hosted web application built with PHP on the Laravel framework, with MySQL for data storage. The interface is standard HTML, CSS and JavaScript, responsive across desktop and mobile browsers.

The stack is deliberate: it runs on ordinary LAMP-style shared or VPS hosting, with no containers, managed services or special infrastructure required. Most agencies already have hosting that runs PHP and MySQL, so installing Task Session on their own server is straightforward.

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Element.io and Task Session

Element.io Reviews

Top 7 Best Open Source Skype Alternatives In 2025
You can get Element for both desktop and mobile, with apps being made available for Linux, Android, Windows, iOS, and macOS. There is also Element web if you don't prefer installing apps.
Source: itsfoss.com
7 best Mattermost alternatives for secure business messaging
Element is a secure messaging and communication software that operates based on the Matrix protocol. It has advanced features that promote internal collaboration and boost team productivity. It offers end-to-end encryption and supports communication through messages, voice, and video calls.
Source: www.rocket.chat
10 Best Secure Messaging Apps to Keep Your Conversation Private
Element.io, which was earlier known as Riot, is a secure chat app that is built around protecting user privacy. It offers end-to-end encryption out of the box, which means that your conversations are fully encrypted and only the sender and receiver can read the messages. After the transition from Rio to Element, the secure messaging app has become more enterprise-friendly.
Source: beebom.com
18 Best Discord Alternatives 2020 | Expert Reviews
Element, formerly known as Riot, is a great alternative to Discord with many of the same features and functions. What sets Element apart is that it was created using open-source software, which allows for customization and flexibility. Element is based on a reaction-based software called Matrix, which allows you to bring other communication channels into the app as well as...
5 best secure private messengers
Neither Riot nor Matrix have been fully audited, although Olm and Megolm have been. Riot.im has been criticized the past for its rather basic user interface, but this no longer true. It still lags behind the futuristic flashiness of Wire, but Riot is now a highly capable messenger with functionality often compared to the corporate messaging workhorse, Slack.
Source: proprivacy.com

Task Session Reviews

We have no reviews of Task Session yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Element.io seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 1 time since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Element.io mentions (1)

Task Session mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Task Session yet. Tracking of Task Session recommendations started around Aug 2026.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Element.io and Task Session, you can also consider the following products

Matrix.org - Matrix is an open standard for decentralized persistent communication over IP.

Asana - Asana project management is an effort to re-imagine how we work together, through modern productivity software. Fast and versatile, Asana helps individuals and groups get more done.

Telegram - Telegram is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security. It’s superfast, simple and free.

ClickUp - ClickUp's #1 rated productivity software is making more productive projects with a beautifully designed and intuitive platform.

Signal - Fast, simple & secure messaging. Privacy that fits in your pocket.

Bitrix24 - Boost your team's success with Bitrix24! Seamlessly collaborate, automate tasks, and manage projects in one powerful platform. Unleash productivity, streamline workflows, and achieve your goals with ease. Your all-in-one solution for business growth.