Discord Alternatives, Ranked
(taggart-tech.com)
cyrano
Privacyif matrix can get some of the remaining issues fixed I think it has a decent shot at taking over, but people will probably pick another "federated" proprietary app like with bluesky
I've seen this article and I find it unhelpful.
Why it's signal on this list? Signal is a sms replacement, not a discord replacement.
My research has found... Root - rootapp.com Stoat - stoat.chat Matrix - matrix.org
Root and Stoat appear to be the closest to Discord.
Do note that Root seems to be VC funded just like discord so that might just be the same thing happening later down the line.
Stoat isn't federated so they also have the issue of running costs but they do seem to have that figured out already (currently donation funded, apparently some user friendly plans on how to deal with costs should they exceed the incoming donation)
(That's the Discourse logo for anyone who's wondering as well. Which ... Yeah, FOSS devs definitely use that over Discord but most people chat on discord, right?)
What, no ranking for XMPP and IRC? They are by far the best alternatives in terms of openness, and have the advantage of being more focused on text-only and basic communication, securing the "do one thing and do it well" path. For things like voice chat there's Mumble, but tbh I don't know how is it doing.
Depending on the client, XMPP can even replicate most Discord functionality. The Movim XMPP client can do group chats, group video calls, and I think screen sharing too.
Mumble still works but from what I can tell its software ecosystem seems to be decaying due to bots etc. not being updated and breaking changes in their dependencies, people can still get them to work if they really know what they're doing but it's difficult. It also has some quirks that make it confusing for people to use, I'm in a mumble server and any time anyone new joins someone has to explain to them that they need to go through the menus to "register" in order to join the main channel, even though this registration is entirely within the application and doesn't require email authentication or anything. There's also frequently SSL warnings and things like that.
One of the biggest reasons Discord took off for my group over mumble was the ease in inviting strangers on an MMO and they didn't even need the app. Getting strangers into voice comms is kind of non-negotiable for difficult raiding when you need a sub.
That said, my group is used to streaming for each other and quite a few have nitro for sound board, profile stuff, etc, so it'd be a hard sell unless a more feature rich option comes along. I have the power to persuade them to join me on another platform, but only once and I'm not about to waste that chance until I know their needs are met. Steam got close, but it failed us when we used it for the brief days that Discord was down.
I'll just be a teen account until there's a suitable alternative, or do the stupid fake image of a guy trick the Brits taught me, lol.
Some of these don't feel like real alternatives to me?
I want both the text chat parts of discord and the part where you can synchronously voice chat with screen share/camera share.
It seems like matrix is the closest thing, I hope it's better than when I tried it in 2021 or 2022
Matrix has a new spec coming that will fix everything (they say). But last I checked it's not finalised, and they have been working on it for years.
Yeah, discord has so many features that not everyone uses them. Open source proponents seem to prefer text communication so they ignore most of the shortcomings
Has anyone tried space bar?
What I really need is realtime multi-party voice chat
Do any of these support that?
I mostly use discord for light coordination and online voice chat during games or activities.
Technically, Signal, Rocket Chat, and Matrix all have multi-party voice chat built in. You probably won't have a great time with it, and if you want video or screen sharing, you'll have an even worse time.
Just tested out element and had no problem with screen sharing + video in a voice call. Haven't tried out the mobile app for that (but I haven't done that for discord either and on desktop, discord just doesn't screenshare like half the time for me)
Teamspeak, ventrilo, mumble - but discord replaced them all with being easy to use.
Sadly, there is no real alternative with all the discord features. I mean, you could create chats in Zoom and use their voice/video feature, but at least one person would need pro.
In my world the biggest advantage of Discord is the Availability on consoles allowing voice chat for crossplay. For all I know none of the alternatives you mentioned is available for consoles. I know there are people connecting their PS/XBox audio output with a computer running TeamSpeak to receive VoiceChat and in Game Sound from the same system but this is not a usable solution for most people.
100 % agree. Somehow Discord found its niche and no one else challenged it.
Edit: Xfire might have, but they died a long time ago
And that took forever to release! For over half the time discord has been around they didn’t have console support
possible, but still it’s a problem for me. Never liked Discord and was always happy with TS. But when I started playing with a friend using XBox I was forced to use it
Installing Zoom on your machine is a mistake.
Their install process is indistinguishable from malware abdv they have a history of shitting on security for all growth possible.
And sadly governments abd corporations rewarded them for it.
I'm not a big fan of Zoom, but on Linux they have signed packages for most distros. Pretty standard install mechanism.
Their install process is indistinguishable from malware abdv they have a history of shitting on security for all growth possible.
Source?
zoom.exe
those were mostly issues from around Covid when they suddenly exploded and hard to start caring about security
Look at Teamspeak 6. You're behind on the times
I don’t need all the features, just two.
everything else about discord I hate.
Check out teamspeak and mumble, maybe those fit
Jitsi Meet.
I think Matrix has one as well that's integrated nowadays.
Steam's built in voice chat replaced discord for my group of friends years ago. It was rough at first, but it has improved a lot and now we dont have issues anymore.
Except when steam itself craps out for a while and you can't even tell unless you keep the group chat/voice window open on 2nd screen.
Still better than discord tho
Isn't that a multi-way call? Everything else is covered by forums (permanent) or IRC/Matrix/XMPP (quick)
I would like to throw Kiwi IRC into the mix, perhaps it would suffice for some people.
Alternatively, IRCCloud.
Thank you for sharing this!
