The Best Open Source Alternatives to Discord

Mattermost as a Discord alternative

Mattermost details

Mattermost gives a community the parts of Discord that matter — topic channels, threads, roles, and fast mobile apps — on a server the community itself owns. Nothing depends on a platform's moderation decisions or its willingness to keep a free tier, and the message archive belongs to you rather than sitting behind someone else's terms of service.

Rocket.Chat as a Discord alternative

Rocket.Chat details

Rocket.Chat is the closest fit for a Discord server that has outgrown being a hobby project. Public channels can be opened to visitors without an account, roles and permissions are granular enough to run real moderation, and end-to-end encrypted rooms are available for the organising conversations that should not be public.

Element as a Discord alternative

Element details

Element suits communities that want Discord's openness without a single company standing in the middle. Matrix is federated, so members can join from any homeserver and take their identity with them, and rooms are end-to-end encrypted by default — Discord encrypts voice and video end to end, but never text.