For several years, I am trying to find a stack of software that can be totally self-hosted and provides a comparable experience to what people expect.

Of course, Bitcoin is the payment infrastructure of such a stack, but when it comes to messaging, what have you found to be comparable existing to current proprietary messaging applications? (Nostr for the future, but I think it's fair to say we're definitely not there yet)

Currently, Matrix seems to be the best solution and offers an impressive, all things considered, user experience compared to other solutions that I am aware of.

Of course, a messaging service is not worth much if you're the only one on it out of the people who you know and relate with. With all the services out there already overwhelming people and the observed lack of care that I see among the general public who would prefer comfort over sovereignty, it's important to capitalize on any opportunity that arises for someone to join if possible and then the retention is a whole nother ball game.

Personally, I have had the best success with Matrix at getting my friends and family to join and maintain communication with an accessible self-hosted solution. Any other recommendations?

I've also noticed that Matrix is struggling on the funding realm and they don't have channels to donate with Bitcoin. Is there anything we as a Bitcoin community can do to get behind a solution that allows for sovereignty in the philosophy of open-source decentralized tech?