FOSS alternative to Discord? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 years ago by Secret300@lemmy.world to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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Now that people have moved from reddit to lemmy I'm glad to be using more FOSS software. Now all that's left is discord but I can't find a good replacement.

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[-] fubo@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

Matrix is a Fediverse real-time chat/messaging system.

IRC is an old-school federated chat system (originally created in 1988!)

[-] Secret300@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago

I like Matrix for text but voice calls aren't the best

[-] illectrility@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I actually think that voice calls via Element are really solid. 1 on 1 calls can be done via P2P which is amazing for audio and video quality. Group calls are also pretty great with the upcoming (and already available) voice rooms. I really enjoy it and barely use Discord anymore since I got most contacts to switch.

I mean, let's be honest. Discord is actual garbage. Their clients are slow and usability on Linux is extremely limited. For example, streaming with audio is not possible on Linux for some really stupid reason. They use a very old version of Electron for everything. They are financed by China afaik. Push notifications on Android aren't reliable. It's just a hot mess. I'd take Element any day. Although, I will admit that Element has issues, too. The voice rooms are still in Beta, there are some quirks and steaming with screen audio doesn't work on Linux.

[-] WheelcharArtist@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

https://matrix.org/ might be interesting to you

[-] BendyLemmy@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

Confusion here between 'Service' and 'Software' methinks...

Here's Discord running in a FOSS browser...

So I wouldn't be worrying about software.

[-] Secret300@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Alright buddy you got me I used the wrong term. I meant service

[-] BrikoX@vlemmy.net 3 points 2 years ago

Matrix
XMPP
IRC

[-] hschen@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 years ago

Revolt and Matrix/Element

[-] Kajika@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

Self hosting gitea : https://about.gitea.com/ is going to give you the github UX. You can also go for the forked forgejo : https://forgejo.org/.

Gitea is getting into corporation/IP territory while forgejo is 100% community driven.

Self-hosting might feels intimidating for some but once you have your server the speed and "snappiness" feels insane.

[-] melmel 2 points 2 years ago

Matrix is good but it feels more like a WhatsApp group or something. Definitely room there to have a client that’s more fun, like Discord

[-] Secret300@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Been checking out matrix clients and so far Cinny looks and feels closer to discord and fluffychat is pretty good to. Both work better then element in my experience

[-] Helix@feddit.de 2 points 2 years ago

If you get Beeper.com which is based on Matrix.org you can have both: FOSS and chatting with your friends on Discord.

[-] Vexz@feddit.de 1 points 2 years ago

Interesting. Never heard of Beeper. Looks like they even have a client for desktops. Does it also cover (video) calls and screen sharing for Discord and/or Signal?

[-] ZeroXHunter@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

Isn't it subscription based?

[-] Helix@feddit.de 2 points 2 years ago

Thought so too, but they actually don't charge anything. Wonder if I'm the product then.

[-] ZeroXHunter@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

https://blog.beeper.com/p/beeper-is-now-free Turns out they are going to provide a "Plus" version with extra features for paying customers. So, its not bad I guess!

[-] BendyLemmy@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

I used the 'betterdiscord-installer'.

Ferdium still looking good.

However, Discord isn't so much an application as a protocol - you're just changing the client.

[-] bizdelnick@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

Jitsi Meet

[-] 908musdf@lemmy.one 1 points 2 years ago

There is also Rocket.chat, to complete the list, though it is supposed to be difficult to host.

I would recommend Matrix. My small instance is running Conduit, and it works great!

[-] vipaal@aussie.zone 1 points 2 years ago

https://www.opensourcealternative.to/ lists rocket.chat as an alternative to Slack and Discord

I have not used it. I have used Mattermost. And it can do channels, teams, hashtags, @ mentions etc similar to Slack. Though it requires the server be hosted and administered by you or someone you know.

[-] eshep@social.trom.tf 0 points 2 years ago

@Secret300 This really depends heavily on what parts of #Discord you're trying to replace, as nothing currently has a 1:1 similarity with it. #Matrix will likely get you most of what you want but self-hosting it can be quite a sizable task. #Mumble is an excellent choice if your main concern is voice rooms, text chat is not so great. The ""best"" option would probably be to mix mumble with xmpp, as both do what they're designed to do very well and are also quite easy to maintain.

[-] Secret300@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Is self hosting Matrix really that hard? So far it looks like matrix is what I want. They don't have good voice features right now but it looks like they are working on it

[-] eshep@social.trom.tf 2 points 2 years ago

@Secret300 I wouldn't say it was hard. The replication part of matrix can get very big, very fast. If you're not prepared for that, it could easily get out of hand.