It’s not a new movement, but taking back control from large corporations has been gaining momentum. Whether it’s data storage, apps and services, or even communication. For the longest time, we’ve trusted big tech to handle messages, photos, and private conversations. But there’s no ownership here. Whether it’s WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, or Telegram, your messages sit on someone else’s servers. Most of us made that trade willingly because of convenience. In return, you get polished apps, features, updates, and ubiquitous availability. But that same convenience is also a compromise.

Terms of service change, and so do privacy settings. While WhatsApp is officially too big to fail, if you use a bespoke service, there are chances that it’ll get canned if it doesn’t meet revenue targets. You can’t have implicit trust in a company’s willingness to keep an unprofitable business running. But there’s a solution.

Matrix is a decentralized communication platform designed specifically for people who want control over their connectivity. Instead of relying on a single company, Matrix allows anyone to run their own chat server and still communicate with people across the network using a mesh-like approach. The platform is open, secure, and resilient. Moreover, running your own Matrix server might sound intimidating, but it is simpler than you’d think. If you value privacy and long-term access to your data, running a Matrix server is one of the obvious choices to make. Here are three reasons why you should host your own Matrix server.

You own your conversations

Protect your privacy

This one is obvious, but when you use a mainstream chat platform, everything from your messages to media is stored on third-party servers. You are effectively trusting a company to handle those messages responsibly, protect them against breaches, and not use the data for analysis or to train AI. That trust isn’t always well-earned, and there are more than a few examples of businesses taking advantage of loopholes in privacy policies.

Hosting your own Matrix server changes that equation. Every message, file, document, or image sent across stays entirely under your control. You get to decide who has access, how long these messages are stored, and how your data is backed up. Obviously, nobody can analyze your chats for trends or behavior patterns or use them for training AI models. Nor can anybody shut down your account for any reason whatsoever.

That ownership extends to your identity. With Matrix, your identity exists independently of any single provider, giving you the freedom to personalize every aspect of your online presence. This level of control can be invaluable for small teams or communities. It allows you to set and define rules and opt for systems tailored to the experience you need, instead of buying into a one-size-fits-all system decided by a global corporation, such as Slack. Whether you want complete privacy or open collaboration, it’s entirely up to you.

A global network built around a federation

Resilient communication without central control

One of the most popular concepts behind Matrix servers is the idea of federated communication. Each Matrix server acts like a node in a global network, and all nodes can talk to each other. When you send a message, your server communicates directly with other nodes to deliver the message to them. The message distribution model works very similarly to peer-to-peer networks.

This design goes a long way towards making Matrix resilient. There is no single point of failure or central control that can be used to shut down the network. Even if one server goes offline, communications keep working through other servers, preserving the network’s integrity.

This connected web of nodes can share data freely and securely instead of sending back each message to a walled garden. It also gives full control to the user. You can host your own server, or join a server — your messages will get delivered regardless.

Bridges that connect every platform

One chat space for every conversation

Look, most online communication today happens through closed ecosystems. I use Slack, but it doesn’t connect to Discord. Similarly, WhatsApp can’t speak to Telegram. More often than not, your communication gets split across multiple tools and services. Matrix solves that problem through its use of bridges and connectors.

A Matrix bridge acts as a link between platforms, and with the right setup, you can connect your Matrix server to other services and chat with people without leaving your preferred client. It can integrate with Slack for work communications, Discord for banter with friends, and more, all within a single interface.

This is also beneficial for organizations that can allow teams to use multiple tools suited to their needs while keeping all communications centralized through a matrix.

Taking back control of your communications with Matrix

Hosting your own Matrix server gives you complete independence, convenience, and transparency over your communication. Sure, centralized platforms have made communication effortless, but they have also made it fragile. As a user, you effectively have zero control over your communication.

Matrix changes that, and it doesn’t need you to be a developer to get started. You can begin as small as joining an existing community with a client and take things from there. As a small business owner, Matrix has become an important part of my self-hosted stack to reduce my reliance on third-party services for business communication.

• Matrix: Matrix is a decentralized communications platform that is fully open source, takes a node-based approach, and is free to deploy on your own server.