37signals vs Element

37signals (HEY! It's in Basecamp!) and Element (Founded by the creators of Matrix, we build digitally sovereign, secure and interoperable real-time communication solutions for large organisations.) both appear on the Smoower Developer Ecosystem Index.

37signals (rank #122) holds a narrow lead over Element (rank #189) on the overall Smoower ecosystem score (54 vs 50). The gap of 4 points reflects composite signals across code, docs, community and reach.

On code quality (the state of repositories, tests, releases and polish), Element is ahead of 37signals. On education (docs, guides and learning material for developers), Element is slightly ahead of 37signals. On community (issue response, PR reviews and discussion health), 37signals is slightly ahead of Element. On reach (how visible the ecosystem is beyond its own repos), 37signals is slightly ahead of Element. On momentum (release cadence and how fast the ecosystem moves), Element is ahead of 37signals.

37signals carries 113,857 GitHub stars across 236 public repos, with 48 repositories active in the last 90 days and 298 external contributors on record. Element shows 34,608 stars across 137 public repos, 33 active in the last 90 days and 97 external contributors. The star gap on its own does not decide the comparison, but 37signals's footprint is roughly 3.3x larger, which usually shows up in downstream signals like inbound issues and third party integrations.

37signals is the stronger read for anyone weighting reach. Element looks better where code quality is the deciding factor. The table below breaks the scores down pillar by pillar; the linked profiles cover the underlying repos, docs and community signals in full.