element.io
Mixed
Results vary across element.io: of 9 URLs tested, 3 are blocked, 3 are disrupted some of the time and 3 load normally. The Great Firewall blocks the connection outright, poisons its DNS and silently drops its packets so requests time out. 137 tests have been run under this domain since 2020-07-16, the most recent on 2026-10-01.
The two are filtered by different means — an unencrypted request by the address and keywords it carries in the clear, an encrypted one by the server name in its TLS handshake — so one working while the other does not is normal.
The site itself
http://element.ioIntermittenthttps://element.ioBlockedhttp://www.element.ioIntermittenthttps://www.element.ioIntermittentPages and subdomains (5)
https://element.io/enNot blockedhttps://element.io/pricingas of 2026Not blockedhttp://app.element.ioas of 2026Blockedhttps://app.element.ioBlockedhttps://call.element.ioas of 2026Not blockedAbout element.io and the Great Firewall
Results vary across element.io: of 9 URLs tested, 3 are blocked, 3 are disrupted some of the time and 3 load normally. The Great Firewall blocks the connection outright, poisons its DNS and silently drops its packets so requests time out. 137 tests have been run under this domain since 2020-07-16, the most recent on 2026-10-01.
Plain HTTP and HTTPS differ here: http://element.io is intermittent, https://element.io is blocked. The two are filtered by different means — an unencrypted request by the address and keywords it carries in the clear, an encrypted one by the server name in its TLS handshake — so one working while the other does not is normal.
A VPN or another circumvention tool routes the request outside mainland China, past the filtering that blocks element.io. GreatFire runs GreatFire VPN; the Analyzer also tests the domains of many VPN and proxy providers, so you can check whether one is reachable before relying on it.
Elsewhere on the site
Each URL's status is its verdict over the last 90 days, the same one its own page headlines.