Telegram and Whatsapp are the world’s most popular messengers. So what is the difference between Telegram and Whatsapp? Which is best for you? To make an informed choice, we have made a detailed comparison between two giants – Telegram and Whatsapp!
Brief History of Telegram and WhatsApp
Whatsapp was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, the former employees of Yahoo! Later in 2014, Facebook acquired Whatsapp for $19 Billion.
Telegram was launched in 2013 by Durov Brothers – Nikolai Durov and Pavel Durov, Who also founded a very popular Russian social media called VK.
Telegram vs Whatsapp User Base
Whatsapp was launched around 4 years earlier than telegram. So Whatsapp has quiet good edge over telegram in terms of user base.
As of in 2020, both messengers have the following number of active users…
- No. of Whatsapp user – 1.5 billion active users
- No. of Telegram users – 400 million active users
File Sharing in Telegram vs Whatsapp
There is a huge difference in maximum file size allowed between the two messengers.
Telegram allows file sharing up to 1.5 GB
Whatsapp allows file sharing only up to 16 MB
Telegram clearly demonstrates its superiority in this aspect.
Group Members Capacity in Telegram and Whatsapp
Again, vast difference can be seen between both the competitor.
Telegram has supergroup which can accommodate up to 200,000 members in a single group
Whereas, the maximum capacity of the WhatsApp group is only 256 members.
Telegram vs Whatsapp Security
Security and privacy is the main concern of many of us nowadays. Here I will highlight some basics about the Telegram and Whatsapp security.
Security aspects of Telegram and WhatsApp differs a lot and are explained individually below…
WhatsApp Security
Whatsapp by default offers end-to-end encryption between you and the person you message in WhatsApp messenger app. All encryption happens automatically and there is no need to turn on setting to secure your messages.
But remember, Whatsapp is owned by Facebook. Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 Billion and they bought it for a reason!
Telegram Security
Telegram is based on the MTProto protocol. Even if you are more paranoid than other regular users, Telegram has got you covered because Telegram offers special secret chats that uses end-to-end encryption, leaving no trace on Telegram’s servers.
Voice calls and video calls
Whatsapp offers both video calls and voice calls to their uses. Whereas, currently, in Telegram only voice calls can be done because it doesn’t support video calls. Don’t lose hope if you are a Telegram supporter because Telegram has announced to launch video call feature in 2020 itself!
If we compare voice calls quality in Telegram and WhatsApp, they both offer almost similar and superior quality calls
What Telegram has to offer which is not available in WhatsApp?
There are various features and perks of using telegram which you cannot find in WhatsApp. All that unique features of Telegram are summarised briefly below…
1) Channels in Telegram
Channel is the tool for broadcasting messages to a large audience. A channel can handle an unlimited number of subscribers. Anyone can join your public Telegram channel by just searching the channel’s username. If you want to limit access to your channel you can create private channels so that you can decide who can view your content by sharing private invite links. There are a variety of channels in telegram and you can check out some Best Telegram Channels to join.
2) Usernames
If you want someone to communicate with you, you can simply give your username to that person instead of your private phone number. This ensures the privacy of the user’s contact number.
3) File Forwarding
It is quite a unique feature of Telegram to forward files without even downloading! Its use a lot of data if you want to forward a big file from one place to other because you don’t have to download it.
4) Edit or Unsend Messages
This feature can save you from a lot of embarrassment because in Telegram you can edit already sent message and even Unsend (delete from both the side) messages at any time unlike WhatsApp (which only allows you to delete the message within one hour of sending the message)
5) Clear Chat History
You, in Telegram, have control over your chat history. If you wish you can clear chat history from both the side by just one click!
6) Unlimited Cloud Storage
Telegram is totally cloud-based. It provides you unlimited storage. Means all your precious messages, media files and documents will be saved on a secure Telegram cloud. Therefore there is no worry about losing any data, backup, and restoration. Due to this feature, you can always clear your cache from Telegram app and re-download any file whenever you require it again!
7) Bots
This is a very useful feature of telegram. Bots can be used for various purposes such as automation, managing group, etc. Creating Telegram Bots is very easy, but you require at least some skills in computer programming.
There are plenty of Bots in Telegram for various purposes such as downloading YouTube videos, downloading Instagram stories and downloading songs, movies, etc.
You can find various useful Telegram Bots in our article of Best Telegram Bots
8) Scheduling Messages
You can schedule your message for any chats easily so that it can be delivered at that exact time even if you are sleeping at that time!
9) Self-destruct Photo and Video
Telegram offers the option of sending Self-destructive photos and videos, which automatically deletes from the recipient’s chat as soon as the pre-set time is over.
No Screenshots can be taken of the Self-destructive media.
Nobody can forward or share self-destructive messages in telegram chat.
Conclusion of Telegram vs WhatsApp Fight
I think telegram wins this game with a clear margin because telegram is more like messenger cum social media. The best part is that Telegram is regularly updated with rising need of day-to-day social media (unlike Whatsapp, which is very careless to update the growing need of masses)
Infographic of Telegram vs WhatsApp
