What is Discord?

For those of you that have never heard of Discord before, it can be best described as “the social media platform for gaming”. With more than 90 million daily active users, the platform has become very popular. Its primary purpose is to create communities, especially for gamers.

The first version of Discord was released in May 2015. Overall, Discord is free to use although it does offer premium subscriptions with features locked behind a paywall. And we all know what it means if something on the internet is free, right?

The need to switch to Discord alternatives

The platform made headlines when it announced in February 2026 its plan to introduce mandatory age verifications worldwide. The aim is to provide a “teen-appropriate experience” by default for all users. In short: Discord wants you to scan your face or ID to verify your age. More and more countries, like Australia and the UK, now require Big Tech companies to start implementing age verification measures. But scientists warn that this could limit the freedom of the internet.

Related: You can find out more about how to turn off YouTube AI age verification, here.

In 2025, Discord faced a serious data breach. The government ID photos of about 70.000 Discord user (may) have been exposed after hackers targeted the third-party company Discord assigned to carry out its age verification checks.

Moreover, while end-to-end encryption has become the industry standard, Discord only activated it by default in May of 2026 – and only for regular voice and video calls. This leaves, in case of another data breach, the data of direct messages or group chats still very vulnerable. That further underlines the need to switch to Discord alternatives.

As said before, it can be hard to switch social media platforms. Because social media only works and is fun if others, like your friends and family, are also on it. But it is not impossible to switch to Discord alternatives. The good news is that there are great Discord alternatives available that value privacy.

At Tuta you do not have to worry about security or data protection because your emails and calendar events are end-to-end encrypted by default.

Turn ON Privacy in one click.

Get

Criteria for Discord alternatives

Overview of Discord alternatives.

When looking for Discord alternatives, there are some criteria to consider when choosing one. Firstly, the alternatives should be open source as it increases security.

Hence, all of the presented discord alternatives are open source. In addition to this, self-hosting is most compelling when privacy and data control are requirements. Because it means you keep full ownership of your data.

Note: Keep in mind that when looking for alternatives, you have to look for what you primarily need. Because each alternative platform has it own key features and focus that may not fit to every audience. What is the best Discord alternative for one, may not be the best Discord alternative for another.

Element

Screenshot of Element website.

Element is a communication app built by the creators of Matrix and developed in the United Kingdom. Users can chat with families, friends, colleagues or their communities. Element can be either used with an existing server or it can be self-hosted.

The platform allows you to create chat rooms (either private or public). One nice key feature Element offers is to bridge communications from Discord and other platforms. This means that you can synchronize your messages from Discord. Element can also be used as a private alternative to WhatsApp.

Target audience: Element is suitable for communities or developers that seek secure communication solutions. It offers you the possibility to join private or public rooms. This can be a nice feature for gamers that are looking for an alternative to Discord.

Note: In this regard, it needs to be mentioned that the rooms are entirely self-moderated.

Pricing: A free plan is available while paid plans start at 5$ per user per month.

Related: Matrix is a decentralized communication protocol on which Element runs. You can compare it with an email infrastructure (matrix) and the email app (Element). The dezentralized architecture of Matrix allows for cross-platform compatibility and prevents single points of failure.

Element is available for Mac, Linux, Windows and on Android and iOS.

Fluxer

Screenshot of Fluxer website.

Fluxer is a new app, developed in Sweden, which was released in the beginning of 2026. According to its founder on its website it is a “free and open source instant messaging and VoIP chat app built for friends, groups and communities”.

Key features of Fluxer include a full messaging suite, voice and video calls with multi-device tools and search functionality with message history filtering. Moreover, in Fluxer you can also customise your emojis or CSS themes. Fluxer can be self-hosted and is a community-driven development.

Target audience: Fluxer is built to become an alternative to Discord or Slack. Hence its target audience consists of technical users or open source communities.

Pricing: The core platform is free and features unlimited users and full community support. However, Fluxer offers optional premium subscriptions, costing either 4.99$ per month or 49.99$ per year. Among other things, the premium features include higher upload or storage limits and early access to new updates.

Fluxer is available for web, Windows, macOS and Linux.

Mumble

Screenshot of Mumble website.

Mumble is a free VoIP software that has been around for more than twenty years. In other words, it released ten years before Discord. In contrast to Discord, Mumble is a self-hosting platform. You can create as many channels as you like and set your own terms of service.

Target audience: Mumble focuses on parallel voice chat. Change to Mumble if you want to chat with someone while gaming.

Pricing: Mumble is free to download and to use as long as you host it yourself. This means that all you need is a hardware to run the server. The costs for hosting can range between 1 € to 3 € per month.

Good to know: Mumble offers so-called positioning audio. That means the voices of the players are heard according to the position of their gaming figure. Nevertheless, not all games support this kind of audio, yet.

Mumble is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Olvid

Screenshot of Olvid website.

Olvid, developed in France, is a privacy-oriented messaging app which requires no personal data – meaning no phone number, email, name or address book access – for signup. The only thing you need is WIFI.

Since it does not require a phone number for registration, Olvid can be used on any of your devices and will stay synced. The app is open source and supports end-to-end encryption. Key features include unlimited file sharing for photos, video or document and cross-platform synchronization, for example.

Target audience: Anyone who is looking for digital privacy like families that want to securely communicate with each other.

Pricing: Olvid provides a freemium model. This means that the core features like messages and calls are completely free. Premium paid features include multi-device synchronization and video calls. For individuals the costs start at 4.99€ per user per month while for business the prices start at 9.90 € per user per month.

Olvid is available on macOS, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Rocket.Chat

Screenshot of Rocket.Chat website.

Rocket.Chat, based in the United Kingdom, is a “single platform to secure, integrate, and scale all organizational communications”. The platform has more than 12 million users, according to its website.

It includes features like group and direct messaging and video conferencing (with screen sharing, meeting recording and multi-participant calls). The platform supports end-to-end encryption and adheres to GDPR standards. Moreover, it allows you to decide how and where your data is stored.

Target audience: Rocket.Chat is a suitable self-hosted alternative to Slack or Microsoft. The set up may be a bit too complicated for non-techies. Meaning: it primarily targets group talks with bigger teams or online conferences. It is an all-in-one platform for cross-team collaboration.

Pricing: Rocket.Chat offers a free starter plan for up to 50 users (suitable for small teams). It also offers a Community Edition which is fully open-source and self-hosted. The paid plans are suitable for bigger teams or teams that need additional security options. To learn more about their pricing details, Rocket.Chat’s sales team needs to be contacted directly via its website.

Rocket.Chat is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS.

Skred

Screenshot of Skred’s website.

Developed in France, Skred is an anonymous secure messaging app that requires neither phone (and SIM card) nor email for signup. All you need to do is exchange invitation codes with people you meet to get started. The app allows you to communicate via HD voice and video calls or instant messages. Group calling is also supported.

Moreover, Skred offers the possibility to move calls between mobile devices and your browser. According to its website, all messages are end-to-end encrypted and not stored on any server.

Target audience: More than 20 million users use Skred. Thus, it is most suitable for people that are looking for anonymous and secure messaging without using any mainstream platforms.

Pricing: Generally, Skred is free although a premium subscription is optional. Premium audio and video multi-call services cost 2.99 € per month.

Skred can be downloaded for Android via GooglePlay store and for iOS on the App Store.

Stoat (formerly Revolt)

Screenshot of Stoat’s website.

Stoat, formerly known as Revolt and developed in the United Kingdom, is an “open-source group chat app for friends and communities that works the way you always wished it would” as it says on its website. The app allows you to create and manage online spaces.

Key features of Stoat include text channels that allow you to share images or mention users. In addition to this, you can also personalize the app’s appearance. The features and user interface are similar to that of Discord. Moreover, Stoat adheres to GDPR principles.

Stoat can be either used with self-hosting or hosting it on Stoat’s own infrastructure.

Target audience: Stoat allows you to create and manage your own text channels. Hence, the target audiences mainly consists of gamers that are looking for an alternative to Discord.

Pricing: The app is free to use. Since it is possible to self-host Stoat, costs typically range from 3 to 10 € for a server.

Stoat is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Wire

Screenshot of Wire website.

Wire, based in Germany, is a secure messaging app that offers end-to-end encrypted group chats with up to 2000 participants. The platform supports video and audio chats, file sharing and group calls. For registration only a valid email address is required and no phone number. Today, Wire is also considered a private alternative to Skype.

Moreover, Wire is GDPR compliant. ID shield and data sovereignty are only available in higher pricing tiers.

Target audience: Wire primarily targets business collaboration as its audience. Although a free app for personal use also exists.

Pricing: It is free and paid plans start at 5.83 $ per user per month.

Wire is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS.

Final thoughts

It is possible to switch to Discord alternatives. Because there are great open source alternatives available on the market with all the features you need. With Discord planning to implement age verifications globally, we have to show that we will not comply with that. All it takes is one small step in the right direction to start.