Alt Forums

Looking for a new platform to use after Discord decided to start forcing users to upload an ID? Look no further! Though Root is not open source like other chat clients are, the devs are clear with their privacy statement and best of all you don't need to upload an ID to access NSFW servers! You can also move your Discord server's layout over to Root. Unfortunately there's no way to bring members and posts over though. It's current in open beta right now, so give it a go and see if it's worth using it over Discord.
https://www.rootapp.com/

I've heard about Matrix but I haven't had the chance to try it out yet. One of the staff over on Sonic retro mentioned that they might eventually move to Matrix from Discord, but he's no longer an admin for the site so who knows if that's going to happen. Which client do you use if you use Matrix? I suppose I could make separate topics for the different clients but I think general discussions about Matrix can just be made in this thread.

Has anyone here used Signal before? It’s been around longer than Discord has, and I think it’s similar to Whatsapp but it’s not owned by a big corporation like Whatsapp is. There’s no trackers, and no ads. I don’t really have a need for a program like this personally so I don’t think I would use it but I am curious to see if anyone is using it here.

https://signal.org/

I just found out this on certain forum but it seems it's already too late to talk about it since their development appears to have been abandoned since May 2026 and their website no longer works. I don't know why or what happened but hey, at least the source code is still there on their GitHub.

Yeah, it's just another opensource "Discord clone" with a design similar to Revolt and Nerimity which seems like it was also designed to be selfhostable. I don't know if this is based on the code of such projects or made from scratch by looking at how the project's GitHub README is organized.

https://github.com/StrafeChat

Another one I found on certain forum. I can't believe it doesn't have much impact for what it offers.

Just another "Discord clone" similar to Sharkord and Fluxer. It's self-hostable, it has screen sharing, plugins/custom themes and even forums. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds interesting.
And yeah, just like Sharkord, this doesn't have a native client/app yet.

• https://chatto.run/

• https://chat.chatto.run/ (demo instance)

• https://www.hmans.dev/blog/chatto-is-open-source

I've been seeing lots of vibe coded chat clients being shared over on Reddit, and 9 times out of 10 these threads are often downvoted to oblivion. That got me thinking, would you ever use a chat client that was vibe coded? (Vibe coded means it was made with AI by someone telling it to generate code.)

I just came across this in a YouTube comment and I found it so interesting that I wanted to share it here.

It's a self-hostable Discord alternative almost similar to Matrix (obviously without federation). It has voice chat, screen sharing and some other basic functions of Discord except a "fancy" profile customization.

The server is just a simple and lightweight binary (also available on Docker) which after launching, it starts a web client at port 4991 (yeah, it doesn't have a native client yet you can only use it from your browser). You can configure it later by creating or editing config.ini file under the ~/.config/sharkorddirectory and following this guide (things like server description, logo, storage and signups can be changed inside the web client after using the owner token the server generates for you).

There's also a public official demo here if you want to test it without running a server.

• https://sharkord.com/

• https://github.com/Sharkord/sharkord

This chat client has been around since 2004, so it makes me wonder if anyone here ever used it before. I feel like it was mainly used in a professional setting, I just discovered it since I've been doing research on Discord alternatives for the forum. The latest stable releases were released at the end of last year it looks like. TechRadar mentioned it as a Skype alternative after the platform shut down.

https://jami.net/

This is another free Discord alternative that you can actually host yourself. It's also federated and has E2E encryption. Have you tried this one out yet? I'm thinking about giving it a go and see how I like it. For now Root is still my go to Discord alternative, but maybe Loqa will replace Root who knows? Also you can migrate your Discord server over to Loqa too.

https://loqa.chat/

This seems to be a professional chat client, so think Microsoft Teams and not Discord. Though they do have a blog post about why people prefer to use Pumble over Discord which is interesting. I don't think Discord when I think of teams so it's kind of odd they compared their platform to Discord lol. Anyways, I don't think most people here will use this one unless you manage a group of people and you need something more professional and don't use Teams. They do allow importing from Slack so if you're using Slack and want to try an alternative Pumble might be a good replacement.

https://pumble.com/pricing

This is a Discord like chat client that's currently being worked on by Prata over on Forum Promotion. Looks like they're basically focusing on trying to get features added before making a support server. You can create an account and make your own server but I haven't made my own server just yet. I did sign up but there's not much you can do at the moment it seems. There's no app to install either at the moment, you can only access it in a browser. Below is a link to their Forum Promotion directory listing.

https://forumpromotion.net/directory/prata.1321/

While browsing r/Guilded (rip) I came across a thread for this chat client. Apparently it's got over 2,000 members using it already. It's privacy focused and also based in EU. You can import your Discord channels and friends list too. I haven't joined this platform yet, but I will get around to doing so soon. I don't know if it's going to replace Root though, I'll probably stick to Root.

https://osmium.chat/

Well, first of all, XMPP isn't a client, platform or similar BUT a protocol (and the same applies with IRC), which means anyone can make their own clients and servers based on their specifications and standards instead of being centralized.

XMPP (previously Jabber) is a IM protocol created in 1999 and based on XML which works on a federated way which means you can send messages with other users from other servers (similar to how email works) and it also has encryption for messages between clients. Yeah you can think it's similar to Matrix too but without being so fucking bloated and confusing.

Using it isn't complicated, just find a "XMPP provider" or if you've a VPS or a self-host server in your home install Prosody and host your own XMPP server, find a XMPP client and create an account from your provider server and there you go.
When you log in for first time, you'll notice a "/" after your JID (Jabber ID), and that means the "tag" of the computer where you're currently logged in or your current session (e.g. [email protected]/DESKTOP). Isn't that important but I wanted to keep that in mind for newcomers.

For clients, unfortunately most of them doesn't look decent at all and many of them are abandoned or with weird UIs, but the one I use a lot is Psi+ (a fork from the now kinda-abandoned Psi), which has that old-school IM client look and is very lightweight, and monocles chat on my Android phone, which has an aspect similar to WhatsApp/Telegram (which I hate) but looks good and has some cool features. If you want something almost similar to Discord and easy to use there's Converse (which also has their own XMPP provider service) and Gajim but I honestly don't like them.

As for me, I've been using XMPP since 2021, but I stopped using it out of boredom and lack of interest. In 2023 I wanted to use it again but this time with my own server, and I ended up getting bored of it once again until late 2025, when I decided to return using it but this time for real and even more after the Discord scandal with their shitty "age" verification crap. And yeah I'm also with my own (private) XMPP server which I improved it to use a MySQL database for the users instead of using an annoying local DB file which makes me confusing when I have to start making server backups.
I know isn't perfect and it doesn't have modern features and it seems more like if someone merged IRC with the structure of an average 2000s IM software but to me it looks good to use it as an lightweight alternative and if you want something classic, minimalist and without being centralized.

https://fluxer.app/

I never tried it, but a lot of people say it's great and that it will support self-hosting and federation in the future (well you can actually self-host as it's open-source but it's currently buggy, undocumented and also requires to do a bunch of steps even if there's Docker images out there for that as updates breaks some other stuff). I hope that happens so I can stop using and self-hosting Matrix as it's so complicated, confusing and because I don't like the few clients that has and even for Android.

https://spacebar.chat/

Formerly known as "Fosscord", I think it was created in 2020, though it didn't really take off until around 2021 when it was crossposted on Hacker News and on a bunch of subreddits and then faded into obscurity until now, thanks to Discord and its ID BS.

In short, it's a reverse-engineering project to how Discord works. You can also host your own instance (without federation), but it requires to follow a lot of steps (most of them are optional if you don't have plans to make a big/public instance), though you can just use Docker (docker-compose) to avoid too much hassle (last time I tried making my own instance I was getting errors while setting a PostgreSQL DB and I ended up giving up lol). And I think it's almost 1:1 to Discord's API so I think you can migrate your Discord bots you made on Discord.JS for example to Spacebar without having to do so much changes.

There's also a public instance for it but it requires using a client to connect on it. Seems like the most recommended one is Fermi, which has a similar aspect to Discord.

And well, as is usually the case with this kind of projects, don't expect a very stable experience.

https://nerimity.com

As mentioned on #123

Honestly my favorite Discord clone/alt. It has custom text colors, full profile/theme customization, it has those old Discord tags/discriminators on names, webhooks, Android app and other stuff. It also has a Twitter-like thing to post content and a feed for it but I don't care about it and I never used it (well only once just to say why no one made a server for talking about retro stuff yet).

Some downsides:

1. NSFW is not allowed on the entire platform (IDK if I should mention this but more than a few people will find it annoying bruh)

2. You cannot upload attachments on private servers unless you donate or make your server public (but you can "bypass" this by uploading stuff on DMs and then copypasting the link of it to the server lol)

Anyways, I only use it for DM with my friend since I joined in 2025 as I was tired to find a better Discord clone that doesn't look so incomplete and I ended up using this instead (it was a time before Fluxer existed and Revolt would wake up with development).

This one says it's supposed to be a Discord clone, but honestly I don't get that feeling from it. I haven't used Concord as much as I've used Root, so I don't have too much to say just yet. However I will say that there are some features that are locked behind tokens like a discover feature which I'm honestly not a fan of. I do like the leveling system they have in place which is something that Root doesn't have. There was a thread on the Guilded Subreddit that had a link to the Concord website but it must have been deleted. So here's a Google Play link for the Android app, as well as an iOS App Store link too if you want to give it a go. It isn't ranked well on either version though, so this one I wanted to bring to everyone's attention but I think you're better off sticking to another platform.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.concord.app.concord&hl=en_GB
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/concord-social-community/id1665926607

Stoat is another alternative chat client that's been worked on for a few years now. It's UK based, so they do have to follow their rules. The good thing about Stoat is there are css edits you can make to your servers to make them more unique. You also can access Stoat through a browser, something that other chat clients such as Root don't have support for yet. I used it for a little bit back when it was known as Revolt. I heard their moderation on the official server is a bit harsh though, so I'm not sure if I'll use their chat client again. Here's their website if you want to give it a go!
https://stoat.chat/