Voice, video and text chat for communities and groups
Discord is a chat platform built around servers, each with its own text channels, voice channels and roles. It started with gamers but now hosts communities of every kind, from open-source projects to study groups, with drop-in voice rooms, screen sharing, threads and forums. Bots extend servers, and an optional Nitro subscription adds perks such as larger uploads and higher-quality streaming.
- features
- 6
- alternatives
- 11
- platforms
- 6
- Updated
- Oct 12, 2026
Features
Our take
Pros
- Drop-in voice channels make spontaneous conversations easy
- Roles, bots and permissions scale to very large communities
- Generous free tier across desktop, mobile and the web
Cons
- Not designed for workplace compliance or admin controls
- Busy servers and notifications can quickly feel overwhelming
- Text messages are not end-to-end encrypted
Editorial assessment by the Alternatives.tools team, based on what the product is known for. Not a user review.
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User reviews
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