Naven
Answers
What is the difference between Naven and Signal?
Signal is the strongest privacy tool in mainstream messaging and Naven does not compete with it on privacy. Naven is not end-to-end encrypted by choice, because it screens messages before they send.
If your first requirement is that nobody can read your messages, use Signal. That is the honest recommendation and it is on Naven's own comparison page.
Where they differ in Naven's favour is reach and shape: Naven runs in a browser with nothing to install, works on a managed school device, needs no phone number, and has channels and communities that Signal deliberately does not.
Signal now supports usernames, so a number need not be exposed to other users — though one is still required to register.