🆚 Telegram vs. WhatsApp

Compare technologies based on real-world usage data *

📈 WhatsApp is twice as popular as Telegram.
🌎 WhatsApp is more popular in Brazil, India, and Thailand.
🌍 Telegram is more popular in Russia, Iran, and Ukraine.

Type

Instant messaging app

About

Telegram is a cloud-based messaging app for mobile and desktop platforms focused on security, speed, and privacy.

It provides voice and video calls, unlimited cloud storage for regular chats and media across devices, end-to-end encryption for Secret Chats, supports groups and channels with up to 200,000 members, and allows bots and mini-apps to extend functionality.

WhatsApp is an instant messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) service owned by Meta.

It allows users to send text and voice messages, share photos, videos, documents, and locations, make voice and video calls including group calls, supports end-to-end encryption, and provides a Business API for large-scale messaging and automation.

Headquarters

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Menlo Park, California, United States

Website

telegram.org #21

whatsapp.com #48

Pricing

Free version ✔️

Telegram PremiumVaries by country, $2.49-$4.99/month

Free ✔️

WhatsApp Business, US rate per conversationFree version ✔️1,000 free service conversations/month
Marketing$0.025
Authentication$0.0135
Utility$0.004
Service$0

Popularity

Determined by the number of sites using each technology.

The WhatsApp instant messaging app is 1.8 times more popular than Telegram.

Total websites

Market share

Instant Messaging

Social Media

Popularity by country

Determined by the number of sites detected from each country.

WhatsApp is more popular in Brazil, India, and Thailand, while Telegram is more popular in Russia, Iran, and Ukraine.

Russia

Brazil

India

Thailand

Iran

Spain

Italy

Indonesia

Ukraine

Turkey

Awards

🥇 Most popular in Russia in the Instant Messaging category.
🥇 Most popular in Iran in the Instant Messaging category.
🥇 Most popular in Ukraine in the Instant Messaging category.
🥇 Most popular in Belarus in the Instant Messaging category.
🥇 Most popular in Uzbekistan in the Social Media category.

🥇 Most popular in Brazil in the Instant Messaging category.
🥇 Most popular in India in the Instant Messaging category.
🥇 Most popular in Spain in the Instant Messaging category.
🥇 Most popular in Turkey in the Instant Messaging category.
🥇 Most popular in Indonesia in the Instant Messaging category.

Popularity by domain category

Determined by the number of sites in each category.

WhatsApp is more popular among sites focused on business, online shopping, and marketing and merchandising, while Telegram is more commonly used on general news, blogs and wiki, and entertainment sites.

Business

Online Shopping

Marketing/Merchandising

Internet Services

Education/Reference

General News

Travel

Blogs/Wiki

Entertainment

Fashion/Beauty