Alternatives to Discord

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⚠️ Thanks to Krusty for collaborating on the writing of this entitled article Alternatives to Discord. ⚠️

Here we are, ready to talk about alternatives to Discord. This article was written when rumors of a possible acquisition by Microsoft were circulating ¹.

Discord in fact it had been valued at seven billion and it seemed that Microsoft had offered ten for the acquisition. It would have been a very important acquisition by Microsoft which, let's remember, over time became the owner of GitHub ², Of Skype ³, LinkedIn ⁴ but also of Mojang ⁵, the manufacturer of the video game Minecraft.

But what is Discord?

Discord is an application created initially for gamers: very low voice chat latency to use in the background to communicate with fellow players. Over the years it has evolved to become a complete communication tool.

The chat hierarchy works like this:

• Server: the virtual “group” – you can create/be in up to 100 and invite up to 250,000 (for verified users or some special partners it can be 500,000 ⁶).

• Thematic channels, or "subcategories" in the server useful for distinguishing conversations, usually referring to a specific game and are divided into vocal and textual. I can, for example, create a channel called "mindustry" with text chat (#) and voice chat.

• Screen sharing, but with the possibility of seeing several at the same time on the same channel.

• For about a year, during the pandemic, each voice chat also allows you to start the video camera up to a maximum of 50 concurrently.

Bots, chats and video calls

Besides all this they also exist Bots, who can reply in chat and also enter into voice transmission by transmitting audio and songs. Chat, calls And single video calls with screen sharing. Reaction to messages and more in-depth and customizable role and tag system than Telegram.

Alternatives to Discord and its terrible privacy policy

However, few know that Discord it is one of the worst applications when it comes to privacy. It received one of the worst possible results on the site ToS;DR ⁷, a site that analyzes and summarizes the privacy of all applications.

Practically Discord uses tracking pixels ⁸, USA Cookies third party for statistics ⁹, the conditions of use may change without informing users ¹⁰ and, not happy, they also use methods for Fingerprinting ¹¹.

Discord can read private messages

Is not enough? Discord can read your private messages ¹², can delete content without notifying you ¹³ and maintains a license to user-generated content even after they close their account ¹⁴. You are obliged to use a real name you reported to us ¹⁵ that you are not obliged to give your real name, evidently information on ToS;Dr are not updated, they can delete your account without notice ¹⁶, can block or censor users without explanation ¹⁷ and may retain personal data even after a deletion request ¹⁸.

Nothing that Microsoft could ruin it, Discord it is already a sieve when it comes to the privacy and data protection of its users. However, all this data could soon end up in the hands of Microsoft and here things probably become even more disturbing.

But what alternatives to Discord do we have?

We also tried asking on the our group Telegram for support and unfortunately Discord It seems a bit unique in its genre. It seems to be a bit of a mix between Slack + Telegram + Jitsi.

• Mumble, great for voice chats. Unfortunately it doesn't offer much else but it is one of the most used as alternative to Discord also for his being FOSS;

• Revolt, excellent alternative to Discord. Aesthetically it is perhaps the one that most resembles him, it is Open source ¹⁹ and they accept donations. It's still in beta but it's open to everyone and seems to be definitely usable. Definitely worth trying then. Ah, you can also follow them on Mastodon;

• Telegram, with the arrival of voice chats 2.0 is very close to the service offered by Discord. However, some fundamental points are missing such as, for example, screen sharing. Telegram he must have read our minds and from version 2.8 of June 26, 2021 it is possible to share the screen with a maximum of 30 participants (limit which will soon be increased) ²⁰;

• Matrix, has many of the features found on Discord. It has reactions to messages, rooms and the ability to create voice chats. Unfortunately, here too, screen sharing is missing and voice chats are not up to par;

• Zulip, an alternative Open source ²¹ interesting and that offers a good service very similar to that of Discord.

• Jitsi, we already know this alternative. We have spoken on several occasions. It can be a good substitute but lacks many options to be a real one alternative to Discord;

• Guilded, is the one that most resembles Discord (after all their motto is Drop Discord, get Guilded). Unfortunately it isn't Open source but at a quick glance its privacy policy seems better than that of Discord ²² (not that it takes much, as we've seen).

Alternative clients to use Discord

Here too, unfortunately, we are a bit at sea, even if something is moving. Let's see which alternative clients Open source they can be used for Discord:

• BetterDiscord ²³ has a plugin ('donottrack') that blocks Discord analytics;

• Another alternative is Powercord;

• Finally, it is also in beta and in progress Fosscord;

• Lightcord ²⁴ it is, however, an abandoned project.

Finally, let us remember that for Discord on Android you can try using together with TrackerControl to block i tracers not essential to operation (and it contains many ²⁵).

Thanks for these tips arrived on Codeberg.

1. Microsoft in talks with Discord over $10 billion-plus acquisition: report[↩]
2. Microsoft acquires GitHub[↩]
3. Microsoft acquires Skype[↩]
4. Microsoft buys LinkedIn[↩]
5. It's official: Microsoft acquires Mojang and Minecraft for $2.5 billion[↩]
6. Discord Server Limits[↩]
7. Analysis of ToS;DR on Discord[↩]
8. The service uses social media cookies/pixels[↩]
9. This service uses third-party cookies for statistics[↩]
10. Terms may be changed any time at their discretion, without notice to the user[↩]
11. The service may use tracking pixels, web beacons, Browsers Fingerprinting, and/or device Fingerprinting on users.[↩]
12. The service can read your private messages[↩]
13. The service can delete specific content without reason and may do it without prior notice[↩]
14. This service keeps a license on user-generated content even after users close their accounts.[↩]
15. Report on Mastodon[↩]
16. The service can delete your account without prior notice and without a reason[↩]
17. Service can block or censor user communications[↩]
18. This service may keep personal data after a request for erasure for business interests or legal obligations[↩]
19. Revolt on GitHub[↩]
20. Telegram version history[↩]
21. Zulip on GitHub[↩]
22. Guilded privacy policy[↩]
23. source code on GitHub[↩]
24. source code on GitHub[↩]
25. Exodus Analysis on Discord[↩]

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