Discord alternatives in 2026: 10 options compared

Why people are looking for Discord alternatives in 2026

Discord is still free, with more than 200 million monthly users per Bloomberg in January 2026. But a run of changes has pushed many admins to find a backup home.

• Oct 1, 2025: Open-source rival Revolt renamed itself Stoat after a cease-and-desist letter, keeping the same app and features.
• Oct 3, 2025: Discord disclosed a breach at a third-party support vendor. It later said about 70,000 users may have had government ID photos exposed.
• Dec 19, 2025: Roblox shut down Guilded, once a popular Discord alternative.
• Jan 6, 2026: Bloomberg reported that Discord had confidentially filed for a US IPO. On Sep 29, 2026, Discord opened advertising to brands of all sizes.
• Feb 9, 2026: Discord announced global "teen-by-default" settings with age checks for some users. Searches for "Discord alternatives" spiked and the rush of new users crashed Stoat. On Feb 24, the BBC reported a delay to the second half of 2026.
• Sep 23, 2026: Automatic age-group estimation went live everywhere except Australia and the UK. About 90% of users won't be asked to confirm their age.

The 10 best Discord alternatives

Prices below are as of October 2026.

1. CommentCamp

CommentCamp gives publishers, bloggers and WordPress sites free comments and community spaces embedded on their own website, with no ads. Spam filtering and a moderation queue are built in. It's in private early access: join the early-access waitlist.

• Price: $0 for site owners, free forever; readers never pay to comment
• Voice: No; built for threaded discussion on your site
• Self-host: No; hosted free, with a WordPress plugin and embed script
• Best for: Publishers and brands that want community on their own site

Disclosure: CommentCamp is our product.

2. Stoat

Stoat, formerly Revolt, is the closest match to Discord's layout: servers, channels, voice chat and group DMs for up to 50 members. It's free and open source with no ads, and it passed 1 million registered users on Mar 29, 2026.

• Price: Free
• Voice: Yes
• Self-host: Yes, or use the hosted app
• Best for: Gaming and friend servers

3. Element (Matrix)

Element is an app for Matrix, an open, decentralized chat network. The self-hosted Element Server Suite Community edition is open source (AGPL), free and includes Element Call for voice and video, aimed at 1-100 users for non-professional use.

• Price: Free Community edition; Enterprise by quote
• Voice: Voice and video with Element Call
• Self-host: Yes
• Best for: Privacy-minded groups

4. TeamSpeak

TeamSpeak is voice-first chat that has long been popular with gamers. A free non-commercial TeamSpeak 3 server license covers 1 virtual server and 32 slots, while TeamSpeak 6 is still in beta. Mumble is the fully open-source (BSD-3-Clause) alternative you self-host; its latest stable release is 1.5.939 (Oct 11, 2026).

• Price: Free TeamSpeak 3 license for non-commercial use; Mumble is free
• Voice: Yes, it's the main feature
• Self-host: Yes
• Best for: Voice-first gaming squads

5. Telegram

Telegram is free messaging for big audiences. Groups hold up to 200,000 members, channels can have unlimited subscribers, and group calls support up to 200 participants.

• Price: Free
• Voice: Voice chats and group calls
• Self-host: No
• Best for: Large mobile-first groups and broadcast channels

6. Slack

Slack is work chat, so it fits professional networks. The Free plan keeps 90 days of message history and allows up to 10 apps.

• Price: Free; Pro $8.75 per user per month billed monthly
• Voice: Audio and video huddles (1:1 on Free)
• Self-host: No, cloud only
• Best for: Work teams and professional groups

7. Zulip

Zulip gives every conversation a topic, so busy channels stay readable. It's open source and free to self-host, and video calls run through integrations like Jitsi Meet or Zoom.

• Price: Cloud Free (10,000 messages of search history, 5 GB); Standard $6.67 per user per month billed annually or $8 monthly
• Voice: Video calls via integrations
• Self-host: Yes
• Best for: Open-source projects and async teams

8. Rocket.Chat

Rocket.Chat is open-source team chat you run on your own servers. It has two free self-managed options: Starter for up to 50 users and Community for up to 100 concurrent users.

• Price: Free Starter and Community; paid plans by quote
• Voice: Video calls via integrations such as Jitsi
• Self-host: Yes
• Best for: Teams that need chat on their own servers

9. Discourse

Discourse is open-source forum software with built-in chat. A bundled plugin called Live, announced in September 2026, adds Discord-style voice and video rooms.

• Price: Hosted Free plan, Pro $100/month, Business $500/month; free to self-host (1 GB RAM minimum, 2 GB recommended)
• Voice: Voice and video rooms with the Live plugin
• Self-host: Yes
• Best for: Searchable discussions

10. Circle

Circle is a hosted platform for creators and brands that combines community, courses, live events and a website. Every plan allows unlimited members, with a 14-day free trial.

• Price: $89, $199 or $419/month billed annually, plus a 2% transaction fee on Professional and 1% on Business and Scale
• Voice: Live streams and live rooms
• Self-host: No
• Best for: Creators and brands selling courses or memberships

Discord alternatives compared

Discord vs Discourse

Discord is built around real-time chat and voice. That's great for hanging out, but a useful answer posted on Friday is buried by Tuesday.

Discourse is a forum first: topics live in categories, stay searchable and build an archive, with chat and Live voice rooms on top. If that model fits, compare Discourse alternatives and pricing.

How to pick the right alternative

• Publishers with their own site: CommentCamp for free community spaces on your pages, or Discourse for a standalone forum.
• Gaming voice: Stoat for a full Discord-style setup, or TeamSpeak and Mumble for lightweight voice.
• Privacy and self-hosting: Element, Stoat, Rocket.Chat and Zulip all run on your own server.
• Work teams: Zulip for topic threads, or Slack if your team already lives there.
• Creators and brands: Circle bundles community, courses and live events from $89/month. See more best community platforms.

Moving your community off Discord

1. Announce early. Tell members why you're moving, where to, and when.
2. Move moderators first. Let them learn the new tools before everyone arrives.
3. Run both in parallel. Keep Discord open while the new space fills up, the same overlap we recommend for Facebook Groups alternatives.
4. Pin the new link everywhere. Put it at the top of every main channel.
5. Set a closing date. Lock old channels to read-only on that day so conversations don't stay split.

Tip: Keep the old server read-only with one pinned invite link, so members who check in once a month still find the new home.