Dropbox vs Element

Dropbox 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.

Element (rank #189) holds a narrow lead over Dropbox (rank #257) on the overall Smoower ecosystem score (50 vs 47). The gap of 3 points reflects composite signals across code, docs, community and reach.

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

Dropbox carries 61,045 GitHub stars across 247 public repos, with 29 repositories active in the last 90 days and 2 external contributors on record. Element shows 34,608 stars across 137 public repos, 33 active in the last 90 days and 97 external contributors.

Dropbox is worth a look for teams already invested in its stack. 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.