SANKET vs Sandes: a Sandes alternative any organisation can run
Sandes is the Government of India's messaging platform, hosted by NIC on government infrastructure. SANKET is a sovereign platform that any organisation, including defence, government, regulators and critical infrastructure, deploys on its own infrastructure, with its own identity provider, policies and update control, from cloud to fully air-gapped.
About Sandes
National Informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of Electronics and IT · India
Sandes is an instant messaging platform from the National Informatics Centre under the Ministry of Electronics and IT. Messages, audio and video calls and file exchanges are end-to-end encrypted, and it is hosted by the government on government infrastructure. Central Armed Police Forces moved official communication to Sandes from January 2024.
SANKET vs Sandes: side by side
| Criterion | SANKET | Sandes |
|---|---|---|
| Who controls the infrastructure | The customer. One dedicated installation per organisation, on infrastructure it owns or chooses, with no vendor-operated service in the message path. | The Government of India: hosted by the government on government infrastructure. |
| Deployment options | Dedicated installation on any cloud in any region the customer chooses (or Tosh Defence hosting), customer on-premise, or fully air-gapped; single host or high availability with second-site recovery. | Government-hosted, cloud-enabled platform. Deployment by an organisation on its own infrastructure: not publicly documented. |
| Who holds keys and identity | The customer and its users. Keys are generated on each device and protected by hardware-backed storage; identities are customer-controlled Sanket IDs, with no consumer phone-number identity required. | Sign-up with a valid mobile number; full features for government-verified users. Key management: not publicly documented. |
| Encryption protocol | Signal Protocol through Signal's official, independently audited libsignal. Messages AES-256-CBC with HMAC-SHA256 inside libsignal; files and calls AES-256-GCM; TLS with AES-256-GCM suites only. | Not publicly documented |
| Post-quantum protection | Yes, in the current release: PQXDH with a mandatory post-quantum Kyber prekey and the SPQR ratchet (Triple Ratchet), plus hybrid X25519MLKEM768 key exchange at the TLS edge. | Not publicly documented |
| Groups and calls end-to-end encrypted by default | Yes. One-to-one and group messages, reactions, encrypted broadcasts and files are always end-to-end encrypted; voice and video calls use AES-256-GCM frame encryption with five new frame keys per second, inside SRTP AES-256-GCM. | Messages, audio and video calls and file exchanges end-to-end encrypted; groups end-to-end encrypted. |
| Customer identity provider (SSO / LDAP) | Yes. Sign-in through the customer's own OIDC, SAML 2.0 or LDAP directory, SCIM 2.0 provisioning, and FIDO2 security keys for administrators. | Integrations with NIC email, DigiLocker and e-Office. Organisation's own SSO or LDAP: not publicly documented. |
| Admin controls and device governance | Device approval and revocation, lost mode and remote wipe, signed device lists, device mutual TLS, retention, forwarding and clipboard policy, customer-defined classification labels and a hash-chained audit log for the customer's SIEM. | Admin-based user management on the Sandes portal. |
| Data sovereignty (jurisdiction, built in India) | Built in India by Tosh Defence. Data stays in the jurisdiction and on the infrastructure the customer chooses, with no third-party analytics and no foreign runtime dependency in the products. | Built and operated by NIC, Government of India. |
| Release integrity and update control | Ed25519-signed releases verified before install, with release freeze and rollback protection and automatic rollback on a failed upgrade. The customer decides when to upgrade, online or with a signed offline package. | Not publicly documented |
| Platforms | Native apps for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS and Linux. Browser-free by design: there is no web client to attack. | Android, iOS and web. |
Who controls the infrastructure
SANKET
The customer. One dedicated installation per organisation, on infrastructure it owns or chooses, with no vendor-operated service in the message path.
Sandes
The Government of India: hosted by the government on government infrastructure.Deployment options
SANKET
Dedicated installation on any cloud in any region the customer chooses (or Tosh Defence hosting), customer on-premise, or fully air-gapped; single host or high availability with second-site recovery.
Sandes
Government-hosted, cloud-enabled platform. Deployment by an organisation on its own infrastructure: not publicly documented.Who holds keys and identity
SANKET
The customer and its users. Keys are generated on each device and protected by hardware-backed storage; identities are customer-controlled Sanket IDs, with no consumer phone-number identity required.
Sandes
Sign-up with a valid mobile number; full features for government-verified users. Key management: not publicly documented.Encryption protocol
SANKET
Signal Protocol through Signal's official, independently audited libsignal. Messages AES-256-CBC with HMAC-SHA256 inside libsignal; files and calls AES-256-GCM; TLS with AES-256-GCM suites only.
Sandes
Not publicly documentedPost-quantum protection
SANKET
Yes, in the current release: PQXDH with a mandatory post-quantum Kyber prekey and the SPQR ratchet (Triple Ratchet), plus hybrid X25519MLKEM768 key exchange at the TLS edge.
Sandes
Not publicly documentedGroups and calls end-to-end encrypted by default
SANKET
Yes. One-to-one and group messages, reactions, encrypted broadcasts and files are always end-to-end encrypted; voice and video calls use AES-256-GCM frame encryption with five new frame keys per second, inside SRTP AES-256-GCM.
Sandes
Messages, audio and video calls and file exchanges end-to-end encrypted; groups end-to-end encrypted.Customer identity provider (SSO / LDAP)
SANKET
Yes. Sign-in through the customer's own OIDC, SAML 2.0 or LDAP directory, SCIM 2.0 provisioning, and FIDO2 security keys for administrators.
Sandes
Integrations with NIC email, DigiLocker and e-Office. Organisation's own SSO or LDAP: not publicly documented.Admin controls and device governance
SANKET
Device approval and revocation, lost mode and remote wipe, signed device lists, device mutual TLS, retention, forwarding and clipboard policy, customer-defined classification labels and a hash-chained audit log for the customer's SIEM.
Sandes
Admin-based user management on the Sandes portal.Data sovereignty (jurisdiction, built in India)
SANKET
Built in India by Tosh Defence. Data stays in the jurisdiction and on the infrastructure the customer chooses, with no third-party analytics and no foreign runtime dependency in the products.
Sandes
Built and operated by NIC, Government of India.Release integrity and update control
SANKET
Ed25519-signed releases verified before install, with release freeze and rollback protection and automatic rollback on a failed upgrade. The customer decides when to upgrade, online or with a signed offline package.
Sandes
Not publicly documentedPlatforms
SANKET
Native apps for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS and Linux. Browser-free by design: there is no web client to attack.
Sandes
Android, iOS and web.Where SANKET leads
- Deployable by any organisation on its own infrastructure, single host or high availability, including air-gapped with offline licences and signed offline release packages.
- Named, independently audited protocol: Signal's official libsignal with post-quantum PQXDH and SPQR, encrypted separately for every recipient device in a group.
- The organisation's own identity: SCIM provisioning and sign-in through its own OIDC, SAML or LDAP directory, never a public identity provider.
- Signed device lists, so the server cannot silently add a device to an account, and device mutual TLS with certificates from the customer's own CA.
- Release integrity under customer control: signed release manifests, rollback protection and automatic rollback if an upgrade fails.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Sandes alternative?
SANKET (Sanket.Chat) by Tosh Defence, built in India. Any organisation can run it as its own dedicated installation, from cloud to fully air-gapped, with Signal Protocol, post-quantum protection and its own identity provider.
Who can use SANKET?
Defence forces, government departments, regulators, critical infrastructure operators and enterprises use Sanket.Work or Sanket.Enterprise for their own installation. The free Sanket.Chat app is open to the public on iOS and Android.
Can SANKET run on a closed government network?
Yes. SANKET runs fully air-gapped with an internal certificate authority, self-hosted Android push, offline licence validation and signed offline release packages.
Does SANKET work with an organisation's existing directory?
Yes. It supports SCIM 2.0 provisioning and sign-in through the organisation's own OIDC, SAML 2.0 or LDAP directory, with FIDO2 security keys for administrators.
Sources
- SANKET Technical Security & Architecture Whitepaper, public edition 2.0 (7 October 2026)
- Sandes portal
- Business Today: Govt launches instant messaging platform Sandes (30 July 2021)
- Wikipedia: Sandes (software)
Sources checked on 7 October 2026. Competitor facts are taken only from the sources listed. Where no public source was found, the cell reads 'Not publicly documented'. Product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners.
Put your communications under your own control
Talk to the Tosh Defence team about your deployment, from a dedicated cloud installation to a fully air-gapped estate, or read the full security architecture first.