What are the best Discord al­ter­na­tives for voice and text chat?

The free voice chat and messenger app Discord is es­pe­cial­ly popular among young people and gamers. However, if you are looking for a chat app with more security or as a pro­fes­sion­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion platform for teams and companies, a Discord al­ter­na­tive is rec­om­mend­ed.

An in­tro­duc­tion to the best Discord al­ter­na­tives

With a discord al­ter­na­tive, you can use a com­mu­ni­ca­tion app that better meets your needs in terms of security, in­te­gra­tion, and hosting than Discord.

Reasons for requiring a Discord al­ter­na­tive

Discord is an excellent, free tool for video, audio, and text chats and has proven itself in group chats and livestreams. Creating a Discord server is free, and thanks to the­mat­i­cal­ly separated voice channels, Discord is es­pe­cial­ly suitable for community building online. Dis­ad­van­tages of Discord include chat bombing, trolling, bots, hate comments, and poor data pro­tec­tion due to user data being resold.

Even though Discord offers in­di­vid­ual security settings, al­ter­na­tives are available that guarantee more security and appeal to a broader audience. The ad­van­tages of Discord al­ter­na­tives include:

• Better in­te­gra­tion of third-party software
• Better en­cryp­tion (e.g., Perfect Forward Secrecy) and privacy (no use of data for ad­ver­tis­ing purposes like with Discord)
• Broader audience that goes beyond just gamers

The 9 best Discord al­ter­na­tives

The following overview provides detailed in­for­ma­tion about which Discord al­ter­na­tives are available and what ad­van­tages and dis­ad­van­tages they offer.

TeamSpeak

TeamSpeak is the closest to Discord as a free VoIP (Voice-over-IP) software. Just like Discord, the focus is on voice chats alongside online gaming. Among dedicated gamers, TeamSpeak has been one of the most popular voice chat apps for team play for years. Many gamers use the software as a com­mu­ni­ca­tion tool for digital guilds or clans with their own Teamspeak server. It’s important to note that it functions as a voice app. An add-on or plugin is required for video chats (as of TeamSpeak Version 5).

Mumble

Just like TeamSpeak, the free VoIP software Mumble is similar to the Discord app but was released ten years before it. Its focus is on parallel voice chat during gaming. Its primary target audience is the gamer community. Of course, Mumble is also suitable for small teams as a com­mu­ni­ca­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion tool when agree­ments need to be made without video chat. A client on the PC is also required for Mumble to connect to one of the many Mumble servers or your own server.

One of Mumble’s strengths is the strong en­cryp­tion of con­ver­sa­tions through TLS and AES. New Mumble versions even use ECDHE and AES-GCM en­cryp­tion for Perfect Forward Secrecy. Another plus is the low latency, resulting in excellent clear sound quality. Since Mumble requires minimal processor power, it runs flaw­less­ly even during intense gaming. A con­ve­nient setup wizard is available to assist with in­stal­la­tion.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is familiar to most Office 365 users. Microsoft’s video con­fer­enc­ing software allows video and voice chats with any number of users and supports all well-known Microsoft apps like Word and Excel with an Office 365 license. Col­lab­o­ra­tion and efficient project man­age­ment are ef­fort­less with Microsoft Teams as a digital office. Team and sub-team com­po­si­tion is flexible. Meetings and ideas can be captured in OneNote for everyone, files can be stored centrally, and planning can be struc­tured in the shared planner. Although there is a free license, Teams only shows its full strengths with a Microsoft 365 sub­scrip­tion.

Troop Messenger

Troop Messenger is closer to the col­lab­o­ra­tion tool Slack than the Discord app, yet it also combines chat functions like instant messaging, video calls for con­fer­ences, and screen sharing. The user interface resembles classic messenger apps like WhatsApp, which might take some getting used to. However, this sim­plic­i­ty benefits users who need straight­for­ward com­mu­ni­ca­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion tools for small to medium teams. Chats occur in real-time and are doc­u­ment­ed for later message searches via search filters. The latest versions offer features like:

• Burnout: Closed, private chat with selected team members
• Respond Later: Mark messages for a later response
• Forkout: Group messages to selected team members
• Code Snippet: In­te­gra­tion of code snippets
• Message Forward: Forward single or multiple messages

Slack

Since the rise of working from home, most office employees are likely familiar with Slack as a video con­fer­enc­ing and col­lab­o­ra­tion tool. The focus is on business project and teamwork. To this end, the solution offers helpful features such as private messaging, group messaging, search filters, screen sharing, and file sharing. In the free license, Slack includes chat history doc­u­men­ta­tion for the last 90 days. Since large companies need much more, the paid version is rec­om­mend­ed in any case.

A central event feed keeps teams updated, while files can be centrally stored for team members. Es­pe­cial­ly handy: Third-party apps and business tools can be easily in­te­grat­ed into Slack. Using the @ function, users can be targeted even when they’re offline. Although Slack supports text, video, and audio chats, the free version only offers 1-on-1 calls. In the paid version, up to 50 users can par­tic­i­pate in audio/video chats.

Wire

The chat app Wire supports video and audio chats, group calls, instant messaging, file sharing, a ping feature, and reliable end-to-end en­cryp­tion for files and con­ver­sa­tions according to European data pro­tec­tion standards. Data is not sold to third parties, allowing Wire users to enjoy high data pro­tec­tion. Although there is a free app for personal use, Wire is seen as a col­lab­o­ra­tion app and is geared towards business teamwork with paid licenses for companies. The software is open-source, supports usage over private servers, allows cross-platform syn­chro­niza­tion, and only requires a valid email address for reg­is­tra­tion (no phone number needed).

Flock

As a team and col­lab­o­ra­tion software, Flock supports group col­lab­o­ra­tion and offers features for project man­age­ment, group messaging, project/team-specific chats, video and audio con­fer­enc­ing, and easy exchange of files and in­for­ma­tion. Data can be syn­chro­nized across devices, making Flock par­tic­u­lar­ly flexible. The free version already includes the main features but limits message searches to the past 10,000 messages. The creation of private group channels is unlimited, while public channels ac­ces­si­ble to all members are limited to ten.

Steam Chat

When con­sid­er­ing a discord al­ter­na­tive for many, es­pe­cial­ly as chat software for online gaming, Steam Chat must be mentioned. For Steam users, the in­te­grat­ed voice and video chat by Steam is par­tic­u­lar­ly con­ve­nient because it doesn’t require third-party ap­pli­ca­tions. The sim­i­lar­i­ty to Discord is evident in the user interface, ensuring that former Discord users can quickly acclimate. Steam Chat allows the creation of new group chats using drag-and-drop, inviting other par­tic­i­pants in this way. There is also a Steam Messenger App for Android and iOS that offers instant messaging and group chats with Steam contacts.

Teamwire

Teamwire is a GDPR-compliant discord al­ter­na­tive specif­i­cal­ly developed for pro­fes­sion­al use in busi­ness­es, gov­ern­ment agencies, and security-critical areas. The ap­pli­ca­tion places special emphasis on privacy, IT security, and user-friendly operation. In addition to classic functions like in­di­vid­ual and group chats, file and location sharing, and broadcast messages, Teamwire also supports secure video chats.

For hybrid work en­vi­ron­ments, the platform offers cross-platform support with apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and a web app. The simple user interface ensures quick ac­cli­ma­tion, while role-based per­mis­sions enable an efficient team structure. A standout feature is the hosting concept: Teamwire can be operated both in the cloud and on-premises, a clear advantage for data-sensitive or­ga­ni­za­tions.