4 Discord alternatives for work and play

Discord is popular all over the world and is loved by gamers and non-game players, but it is not perfect. Some users think that the interface is chaotic and the channel navigation is cumbersome, and some people have doubts about its privacy protection.

No matter what reason you don't like Discord, there is no need to worry: there are many alternatives. We've discussed the best group chat apps before, but this is different from this article. This article focuses on services that can be used as an alternative to Discord, which means they offer similar features such as text chat by channel and multiple permanently enabled audio channels for games.

Steam Chat: A ready-made Discord alternative for gamers

Steam Friends and Chat is the interface built into the most popular video game store on the Internet. If you are a gamer, you're almost certain that you've downloaded Steam on your computer and spent a lot of time playing games you bought there.

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Simply open Steam and click the Friends and Chats button in the lower right corner of the app to get started. If you have added friends to the platform, you will see their list as well as the group chat feature. You can add as many text or voice channels to a single group chat to allow multiple ongoing conversations with the same group of friends.

Steam's chat service features are not as rich as Discord, for example, you cannot use the bot function, and all text messages are only retained for two weeks. Friends and chat on the other hand are free and fully integrated into Steam, so if you're already using the platform to connect with friends in multiplayer, it might be easier to chat there.

Slack: A Discord alternative to business casual style

Slack and Discord developers sell their platforms in completely different ways: Slack's homepage is all about productivity, work and teams, while Discord's homepage is all about games, art and community. However, this branding hides the fact that after installation, the two apps are almost identical, but not exactly the same. Both allow you to create a server that supports audio-only gatherings as well as video calls and breaks down into channels.

The main difference between Discord and Slack is the price. Slack has a free version, but archives are limited to the last three months, and audio-only voice chat is limited to between two people. Large communities often quickly go beyond Slack's free features, meaning they end up needing more advanced features for the service. These features are charged $7.25 per person per month.

Meanwhile, Discord offers free unlimited logs and audio chats, which is basically everything you need to stay in touch with friends. The service's paid tier mainly unlocks some nice extra features such as extra emojis and larger file uploads, and you can choose to pay or not pay regardless of the size of the community you belong to.

However, if you don't care about paid features, Slack is a great place to hang out online with friends and a great Discord alternative, especially if you're already working with the platform.

Element/Matrix: Open Source Discord Alternative

Element is more "geeky" than other applications on this list because it is based on Matrix, a decentralized open source chat protocol. Anyone can set up their own Matrix server and they will own and operate it independently of any company. (This is different from the misleading "Discord Server", which is owned and operated by the parent company of the platform.)

But you don't have to set up your own server: you can create a free account on Matrix.org and use that account to log in to Element. There, you can create encrypted group chats that support text, video, and audio conversations, all in an interface familiar to Discord users.

Element as a Discord alternative faces similar challenges to Mastodon as a Twitter alternative. Both platforms offer complete freedom if you are willing to pay for web hosting. The problem is that most people don't do that, so they never really enjoy the full benefit of any service.

Mumble: Audio-only Discord alternative

Mumble is an open source application that has the same similarity to Discord in that it provides some of the same simple chat features. What Mumble really goes beyond is that it supports high-quality, low-latency audio conversations, which almost feels like you're talking to friends in the same room.

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As with Element, you need a server to use Mumble. You can use a number of public servers that are everywhere on the network (including Mumble.com), but if you want to create your own server, you need to put in some effort – you need to set up a server to host the conversation and have everyone involved in the conversation connect to that server.

When you do all this, you will have a reliable and free high-quality audio conversation tool that is perfect for gaming, podcasts and more. Mumble may not be user-friendly as Discord, but it is arguably easier to use than Element, mainly because you can use a standard computer to host your server.

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