[title = My recommended Alternatives for Discord]: # [banner = images/Blasty/discord_alternatives/Discord_Alternatives.webp]: # [banner_position = top]: # [section = texts]: # [keywords = gaming, discord, matrix, signal, alternative, opensource]: # [description = Simple analysis of alternatives to Discord from the perspective of gamers]: # [__extension_content_table__ = True]: # [type = article]: # [published = 2026-02-22]: # [updated = 2026-06-06]: # Hi. Last October [Discord back-stabbed me](../../../_BlastyLily/texts/discord_saga_01.html) and all other users by pushing an update that locked us of our accounts until we “accepted” new Terms of Service – making everyone's account as hostages. At the time I decided to bypass the forced ToS until the closest friends had other ways to keep contact and then delete my account. What I did not know at the time was shown first by Louis Rossmann: the forced new ToS happened after a massive data-breach with Discord’s support data, including 70K users with identification documents on that platform. That definitively sealed the deal, and my account was deleted in 15 days after opening a ticket by using their support platform – because the way to bypass the forced ToS took me away the ability of deleting my account! During all this time, I tried some alternatives with varying levels of features and success, so today I’m bringing the most relevant ones I tested in order, with their features, some personal notes and what each of they need to improve to match Discord’s free features. # 0. Requisites Before listing my experiences, let’s start with what I expect from a chat program to consider it a viable alternative to Discord, so you can calibrate your expectations. After 8 years being a user of the application, this is my personal criteria list in order of priority: 1. Direct Messages with text and images 2. Private Audio calls 3. Group chats 4. Group audio calls 5. Screen share Above all already mentioned criteria, there is one that is more important for other people than me: low friction to sign/use the application. It doesn’t matter how great your favorite app is, if it’s hard to get in and/or use this will repel people, so any viable alternative needs to be a low friction option. To find a viable alternative, those criteria are intentionally adjusted to the main target audience that uses Discord: gamers. # Alternatives ## 1. Steam Chat Since my usage of chat software was almost completely to chat with other gamers, specially after quitting my previous job, the most natural idea on my mind was trying to use Steam services – since most people I was going to talk were already there. So lets break the good and the bad of Steam Chat in the 5 criteria: 1. **Direct Messages** - Good: simple chat structure - Bad: all messages are lost after a short time (weeks) - Bad: pasting images does not work - Bad: emojis are locked in Steam Points micro-transactions - Bad: no message reacts 2. **Private** **Audio calls**: Non existent 3. **Group chats** - Good: richer chat structure than DMs, allowing to create several text channels - Bad: all messages are lost after some time (weeks to months) - Bad: pasting images does not work - Bad: emojis are locked in Steam Points micro-transactions 4. **Group audio calls** - Good: simple structure for audio rooms - Good: allows multiple audio rooms - Good: extra settings for audio atop of the system configuration - Bad: audio quality is not the best - Bad: calls can become unstable out of nowhere - Bad: users can enter call with sound not working for one or more other users 5. **Screen share**: Non existent For the supreme user-adoption criteria: if you have a Steam account you can use Steam Chat, so for most gamers the friction is very low. An extra negative is that the analysis above only applies to the desktop version of the app, because on mobile Steam Chat is simply unusable by my criteria: a separate app with no audio calls. This is what Valve need to improve on their chat, atop of their game censorship problem: * Audio rooms stability and quality * Adding screen-share * Permanence of messages, with transparency if it has to be limited ## 2. Signal Even before trying Steam Chat, I was already using Signal with some people as a replacement for Meta’s Whatsapp – which I intend to get rid soon. But it took me quite a bit of frustration with Valve’s chat to think on using Signal with friends instead of Discord. So lets evaluate “the gold standard in privacy” by the previous list of criteria: 1. **Direct Messages** - Good: simple chat structure - Good: all messages history is kept - Bad: pasting images does not work - Good: full gallery of emojis - Good: has a GIF gallery - Good: emoji reactions 2. **Private** **Audio calls** - Good: great audio quality - Good: camera is disabled by default - Bad: No extra settings for audio atop of the system configuration 3. **Group chats** - Good: all positives of DMs - Bad: only one chat channel per group - Bad: pasting images does not work 4. **Group audio calls** - Good: great audio quality - Good: very stable calls - Bad: camera and ringing enabled by default - Bad: No extra settings for audio atop of the system configuration 5. **Screen share** - Good: Nice video quality - Bad: 10 FPS For an extra positive, recently Signal added a new feature: calls can be created apart of groups and have a fixed link on your call history, with people being free to join and exit the call any time. An extra negative, that prevents some people from using Signal, is needing a cellphone number to create an account – a barrier of entry not everyone is ok with. What needs to be improved is obvious, and I opened a feature request at Signal’s forum myself to improve group calls. ## 3. Zulip... Well, we reached the point where my tests went incomplete, so there will not be an analysis by criteria. The reason is simple: the top priority of the list quickly failed, low friction to the users. To begin with the positive: Zulip has an excellent structure for text, both in DMs and groups, that really impressed me. It’s by far the best chat program I ever tested for text messages. And that is the only relevant positive on the list. But the problems came immediately when testing audio calls a friend: Instead of using it’s own call infrastructure, audio/video calls in Zulip simply create a link to a Jitsi call. That immediately increases friction, for needing to use an external service on your web browser for a feature that is integrated in other chat apps, but atop of it comes the killing blow: Zulip expects at least one of the users to have a Jitsi account already configured and logged in for the call to work! If neither user is logged on Jitsi, it will push users to log in with either a Google Account or a GitHub (bought by MicroSlop) account with no option for e-mail registration on the call page – **because all you want from an open-source chat app is to push you into Big Tech!** The work of Louis Rossmann towards repair, consumer rights and against Corporate Abuse is very inspiring, but pushing Zulip as an alternative for Discord shows he does not understand well the main target audience of the app: gamers. Not only him, for no one’s surprise a big chunk of the "nerd" open-source community clearly do not understand this public as well! Gamers don’t want very fancy chats when they are playing games or watching stuff together, most in-game chats are already more than enough for this. They want a functional-enough platform to build/join communities and talk to each other while their focus is elsewhere, so it’s obvious a good audio experience is the bare minimum for a Discord alternative – and needing to say that out loud makes me feel like treating those reading as idiots. To not end on a purely negative note, the main point Zullip needs to improve urgently if they want to be a viable alternative is also obvious: either integrate the Jitsi call structure into your application, making it work without external logins, or create your own. Without this, you will be useful to organize people for good activism against mass surveillance cameras, but will never be a real competitor to the nasty Big Tech mentioned too much on this article. ## 4. Matrix From the beginning: this is by far the best option, among the ones I tested, and the one I personally recommend. Yes, this household has a favorite child (big advantage of growing as the only child) and it’s Matrix – with Element as client and a custom homeserver. Let’s start by the criteria list to show why: 1. **Direct Messages** - Good: simple chat structure - Good: all text messages history are kept (media depends on the homeserver) - Good: pasting images does work - Good: full gallery of emojis - Good: emoji reactions 2. **Private** **Audio calls** - Good: great audio quality - Good: camera is disabled by default 3. **Group chats** - Good: all positives of DMs plus threads - Good: you can have multiple chat rooms - Good: you can have a Space (equivalent to a Discord Server) with group chats or independent group chats - Good: chats can be focused on text or calls, but have both - Good: you can invite people to a whole Space or just specific rooms 4. **Group audio calls** - Good: great audio quality - Good: very stable calls - Good: no ringing - Bad: call rooms lose audio when you look into other chats - Bad: occasional instability 5. **Screen share** - Good: Nice video quality - Good: Nice frame-rate - Bad: Occasional instability Topping the list, the Matrix has one of the lowest levels of friction to create an account and use it – currently even lower than Discord. Depending on the server you intend to use, all you need is your e-mail and answering some captchas – nothing any gamer is not already used. Along with the low friction, Matrix fully decentralized nature brings another huge advantage: you don’t need to use it’s main home-server (compromised by age-verification laws), you can use whatever home-server you want – even your own if you want to self-host one. And without requiring external services, like Jitsi, for audio/video calls! Those advantages are why I personally hope that Matrix ends up being successful as a real alternative, if a truly decentralized application – that allows for easily migrating communities – become widely adopted, people will wake up for the importance of not depending on a central provider for all of their communication – and maybe, maybe, get the importance of self-hosting (a bit of wishful thinking, I admit). > *Update:* I personally recomend Unredacted and Nope.chat as homeservers. ## Not Tested To finish with not honorable mentions, there are two applications I stopped before even trying out: Stoat (previously Revolt) and Root. Why? Have you seen their Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and the Community Guidelines? I did, for both them and the other applications mentioned on this article, and … oh boy, the potential for excesses in moderation, thought policing and data collection (for Root) are everything I don’t want to have to deal with. So always remember to check the three mentioned pages/documents for every application you are wanting to try, specially the Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines – where the red flags usually lie. # Conclusion ![Tier List](../../../images/Blasty/discord_alternatives/Discord_Alternatives.webp) There are other alternatives to the Big Tech honeypot in chat-app skin, some that might also have low friction (that I did not test yet) and several that are not a viable competitor for having extra friction. From the ones compared before, Matrix is the one with most potential and the most complete client applications. Element is great, but the ability to use custom providers is the jewel of the crown. My next article will be a tutorial for configuring Element with a custom home-server – including the one I chose to use with friends.