Alternatives to Discord

[cyberfun1 (dizz)]

I suggested to my friend Danny Proto to use Matrix and he really likes it. He says it's reinvigorated his interest in chat clients. I personally like it myself, but it needs a more consistent feature set across all the clients. I think the 2 best clients for matrix are FluffyChat and Nheko; I use the latter. Its got a more skype like feel I think, and it's less bloated than the Element client thanks to using the Qt design library. Ive found it really nice to use and less confusing that Element, although calling on Windows is a WIP because the Windows version of the calling software in the app didnt have Qt compiled in, so they have to compile it themselves.

This is my main issue with alternatives. Nearly everyone i know is not involved in the web revival circle so they have little to no technical or secure knowledge (they log in to a lot of stuff with google). I would have a lot of trouble migrating people from an ecosystem that they not only know well, but have customized with things like pins, favorited gifs, bots etc. I'm afraid that if I try to convince them to move off the platform, I'll be met with flat out refusal -- or worse, begrudging acceptance that leads to no one using the new setup.

You'd be surprised how mean and or stupid people get when open source software is brought up. They always send memes that say Linux people are fat lolcows or that one thats like "have you heard of *insert stupid sounding name*. They legit do not listen at all! I got in so many fights everytime I mentioned to someone about using matrix after they complained about Discord.

Unfortunately it seems that no service has been able to replicate everything that Discord does, in a single package. Things like Matrix do chat very well, but their voice / screensharing are not great.

I thought Matrix's voice and screensharing were pretty good actually. We used in in our first voice channel on Imperial Protogenia and it was really nice. We all were satisfied with the results

[Sunset Swanson]

Honestly, for now, as a discord alternative, I'd pick a mix between internet forums (like this one) and Jitsi Meet (or any VoIP software that allows group chat and screen sharing, hell I'd even take an XMPP client). That's it. It's sure a more archaic solution, but it works and they have all the features I need ! 

[boreal cryptid]

people above me mentioned many cool alternatives, and i kinda don't have anything new to suggest.

i think the main problem with switching platforms in this case is: Discord is all-in-one service. video calls, screensharing, (group) voice chat, servers, forums (as of new), channels (inside the servers), roles, bots, file sharing...

and depending on what the specific person (or group of people) is using Discord for, some might feel strange.

combining a few services seems like a good idea to me (also mentioned above), like Mumble/TeamSpeak/Jitsi for voice/video + Stoat/Matrix for channels OR XMPP/Signal for simple group chats.

no matter how much we would advocate for privacy, too many people just don't have time or desire to tinker with more "complex" services, even if it doesn't seem hard for us. it doesn't mean we have to stop, i just don't want to have any illusions.

XMPP/Matrix registration requires to find a server. this is just a ONE additional step, but it will discourage many people from joining. not because they're "stupid" or "bad", it's just their tolerance for inconveniences (a.k.a. setting things up) might be very low. everyone decides for themselves how much time and energy they are ready to put in those things.

[grubbyfox]

XMPP/Matrix registration requires to find a server. this is just a ONE additional step, but it will discourage many people from joining. not because they're "stupid" or "bad", it's just their tolerance for inconveniences (a.k.a. setting things up) might be very low. everyone decides for themselves how much time and energy they are ready to put in those things.

exactly this. i dont even mind that i'd have to split things into different programs. like, chatting in one, video in one (tho that happens so rarely its not a concern of mine).

i'm trying to look into xmpp (im considering pidgin and/or gajim. i've touched upon pidgin before, but that's prob like 5+ years ago at this point (and it didnt work due to limitations lol). but information is so scattered, and almost all information is told as if I'm supposed to already know half of it. That's very unhelpful.

And If I'm motivated - but dont have the know-how or the time to get a degree in online protocollin', how am I supposed to sell this to friends? "Oh it's great, you just need to sit down for hours and hours to try and figure things out because there's not a single proper youtube video that will actually show you everything from start to finish".

And I've used IRC and the likes back in the 00s, but it's not the same now. Now I'm having to sift thru weirdo websites and shite web searches and 3+ year old reddit posts with like 2 replies just to find a possible server, but no explanation further what to do with that. then there's the clients, with seemingly dead websites, a subreddit with like 14 people, no boots on the ground tutorial on how to use, no information on how much you can customize etc.

I still dont even know how or where to actually make a user account for XMPP. I dont mean to say that it's impossible or that it's inherently bad or anything. But it feels like it's been around for so long that the ones actually using it have no way of properly explaining anything to newcomers.

And that leaves me in a situation where I'd have to be a newbie trying to sell this and probably help friends while still being a newb myself. Which is just gonna be miserable.

[arcus]

Fluxer seems to have the best bet of becoming a Discord replacement. The dev is getting paid, they already hired a lawyer to help with legal issues, and hired a former Discord staff member. There's no end-to-end encryption, but that is by design.

This article goes into depth about other alternatives. Note that the part about Matrix is outdated: Tuwunel is a good server for those thinking of self hosting.

I still dont even know how or where to actually make a user account for XMPP. I dont mean to say that it's impossible or that it's inherently bad or anything. But it feels like it's been around for so long that the ones actually using it have no way of properly explaining anything to newcomers.

• Go here (or somewhere here or here.)
• Create an account.
• Download Gajim or client of choice.
• Log into the account using the client.
• Add others and post in the XMPP thread.
• Join some chat rooms.

I agree. It's one of those things no one thinks of being confusing, but is unless one already knows. It's the same deal as email, but if Gmail and Outlook didn't exist, and one had to use Thunderbird or some other client to use it.

[Rubbereon]

Better question is how do i convince discord users to ditch discord and use any alternatives?

People are still to this day unwilling to leave this behind just like they refuse to stop using paypal. It's annoying. 

[lakes]

Better question is how do i convince discord users to ditch discord and use any alternatives?

People are still to this day unwilling to leave this behind just like they refuse to stop using paypal. It's annoying. 

it depends on the discord user
i've had some friends switch to matrix on their own and some stay on discord
one piece of advice i heard tho is to tell your friends to contact you over [whatever you prefer]
but i'm worried about doing it because i use a bunch of different messaging platforms
so idk which one to tell people to use (some i haven't even had a chance to use), especially since they might have their own preferences
matrix? xmpp? irc? session? signal? briar? simplex? delta chat? whatsdown? jitsi meet?

[SugrPawz]

Discord alternatives I probably wont consider but that could be good:
- Matrix (apparently has ties with the Mossad...so)

So this bit confused me. Do you have a source on this claim? I haven't seen or heard any major talks about that and my searches aren't really bringing up much. I don't doubt it but Id rather be a bit better read so I can dissuade friends from  being on there if so.

[grubbyfox]

So this bit confused me. Do you have a source on this claim? I haven't seen or heard any major talks about that and my searches aren't really bringing up much. I don't doubt it but Id rather be a bit better read so I can dissuade friends from  being on there if so.

This was the URL that was passed around when I "heard" it online (lol).

https://hackea.org/notas/matrix.html

And this was one of the later comments I came across that also spoke about it, altho briefly

https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/1r5catk/comment/o5io0fc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Ive never copied/shared a reddit comment before so I have no idea how that URL will act like, haha but yeah.

Of course, I cant say 100% for sure personally, but it was enough for me to just put me off entirely when there are other options.

[arcus]

So this bit confused me. Do you have a source on this claim?

This was the URL that was passed around when I "heard" it online (lol).

https://hackea.org/notas/matrix.html

And this was one of the later comments I came across that also spoke about it, altho briefly

https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/1r5catk/comment/o5io0fc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

A co-founder has elaborated on this. Regarding security, it doesn't matter. Matrix is open: Anyone can check for security issues.

The comments regarding them selling information are twisted: They sell modified Element clients to governments, not messages.

However.

There are plenty of other issues with Matrix, including financial, made worse by the developers being flippant towards major security issues.

Right now, I'm also testing Fluxer. As an alternative for discord, I would say it's the absolute best as far as true discord alternatives. But they dont offer E2EE and they never will, from reading their FAQ. So for me, that is a pretty big "hmmmm idk". I just dont know why encryption is so....unimportant in this day and age.

Fluxer's roadmap explains this. In addition, cryptography is a specialisation: Not all developers have a solid understanding of it. It's also extra responsibility for a project, especially one with a small team: Fluxer has a single programmer.

[grubbyfox]

A co-founder has elaborated on this. Regarding security, it doesn't matter. Matrix is open: Anyone can check for security issues.

The comments regarding them selling information are twisted: They sell modified Element clients to governments, not messages.

Fluxer's roadmap explains this. In addition, cryptography is a specialisation: Not all developers have a solid understanding of it. It's also extra responsibility for a project, especially one with a small team: Fluxer has a single programmer.

I just thought it was something to tack on, because personally I'd like to know those things when choosing between option A and option B. I dont even like when a software is too popular among governmental instances/big corpo, because that to me feels like, down the line, they can put the squeeze on the money tap to get their way about things.

For actual discord alternatives, I do still think Fluxer is the best, and Stoat a good second (especially if forked at some point). If nobody is bothered with E2EE seemingly, and just wants a chat program (not necessarily a discord clone) then why not just use Crosstalk/AIM or XMPP. Probably less likely to be intercepted by using "weirdo niche" software than larger scale stuff anyway haha 

[Sunset Swanson]

For actual discord alternatives, I do still think Fluxer is the best, and Stoat a good second (especially if forked at some point). If nobody is bothered with E2EE seemingly, and just wants a chat program (not necessarily a discord clone) then why not just use Crosstalk/AIM or XMPP.

Ohhhh, talk about a coincidence ! I'm using both Fluxer and Crosstalk, and I can confirm, they're great !

Fluxer is 2017-2018 Discord, but better, much more customizable, and open source. What's not to love, right ?

And Crosstalk's concept is great : make all old IM clients compatible with each other, and it'll soon be open source, which is the the icing on the cake.

I really recommend both too.

[grubbyfox]

Has anyone else tried anything else, or have some more insight or thought about what they'd like to swap to?

I'd def main Crosstalk if there was more "privacy" (encryption and stuff) but since there isn't, I guess I'll just keep it for funsies.

I've been trying out Fluxer more and it seems a tad mores table lately, or I've just been lucky. The theme community is pretty good too always coming out new wonderful themes. So you can def get a more whimsy with it with the right theme. Again, not perfect privacy-wise, but overall alright.

So yeah, Fluxer and Crosstalk are still the ones I'd consider actively using. Stoat is a close runner up. Only con for me is that it's UK based + lacks themes/proper customization afaik?

[infernal.serval]

Has anyone else tried anything else, or have some more insight or thought about what they'd like to swap to?

Me and another friend quit Discord and the rest of our group, as well as a local writing group, migrated to RootApp. Unfortunately, despite them putting out consistent updates, they haven't done anything about fixing notifications. No one gets notifications unless they are @ed. RootApp is essentially a Discord clone, and they're pivoting to being for gamers as well the same way Discord is. It's not great tbh.

[Rubbereon]

Me and another friend quit Discord and the rest of our group, as well as a local writing group, migrated to RootApp. Unfortunately, despite them putting out consistent updates, they haven't done anything about fixing notifications. No one gets notifications unless they are @ed. RootApp is essentially a Discord clone, and they're pivoting to being for gamers as well the same way Discord is. It's not great tbh.

I heard about stoat acting as a replacement for discord. I dunno if it's any good, but you may like it.