Companies that use Element

Source: Analysis of Linkedin bios of 319 companies that use Element

I noticed Element's users span an incredibly wide range: from government bodies like the Sri Lanka Air Force and German municipal administrations to open source foundations like Eclipse and FOSDEM, universities, NGOs focused on environmental and human rights issues, and tech companies building everything from blockchain platforms to AI solutions. What unites them isn't what they sell, but rather that many operate in contexts where data sovereignty, security, and independence from commercial platforms matter deeply. I see research institutions, public sector organizations, civil society groups, and companies building infrastructure or sensitive systems.

Most of these aren't traditional high-growth startups chasing venture scale. I see established institutions (universities, government bodies, foundations), mature mid-sized companies with 50-200 employees, and mission-driven nonprofits. The handful of startups present are typically at seed stage or bootstrapped, not racing toward a Series B. Employee counts cluster around 10-50 or 200-500, suggesting either small specialized teams or stable public institutions.

Source: Analysis of tech stacks from 319 companies that use Element

I noticed that Element users are predominantly technical, infrastructure-focused organizations with strong open-source values and self-hosted preferences. The heavy presence of GitLab, Hetzner, and Netbox tells me these are companies that prioritize control over their technology stack and likely have significant DevOps maturity. They're building rather than buying, which explains why they'd choose Element, a self-hostable communication platform, over commercial alternatives like Slack.

The GitLab and GitLab CI pairing with Element makes perfect sense for software development teams that want their entire collaboration and development workflow under their own control. These companies are serious about DevOps practices and automation. The Netbox correlation is particularly revealing because it's an infrastructure documentation tool, suggesting these organizations manage complex server environments and need detailed network inventory management. Hetzner's presence reinforces this pattern since it's a cost-effective hosting provider popular with technical teams who manage their own infrastructure rather than using premium managed services.

The full stack reveals these are likely product-led or engineering-led organizations rather than sales-led companies. The combination of self-hosted tools and infrastructure management platforms suggests they're past the earliest startup stage but haven't necessarily reached enterprise scale where convenience often trumps control. They value privacy, cost efficiency, and customization over out-of-the-box solutions. These are technical buyers making decisions based on architecture principles rather than marketing messages.