Chat App Comparison List
This pages details a list of community-oriented chat platforms, though any entry is welcome. There is a legend at the bottom indicating what each column means.
| Name | Registered Users | Protocol | Protocol Type | Lifecycle | Active | FOSS | Voice | Servers | E2EE | Funding |
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| Discord | 350000000 | Discord protocol | Centralised | Mature | 
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VC / Monetised |
| Guilded | 300000 | Bespoke | Centralised | Mature |
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VC |
| Revolt | 50000 | Revolt protocol | Centralised | Beta |
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Donations |
| Nertivia | 10818 | Bespoke | Centralised | Mature |
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P2P |
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Donations |
| Root App | Bespoke | Centralised | Pre-launch |
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VC | |
| Fosscord | Discord protocol | Centralised | Alpha |
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Donations | |
| Cirlos | 138 | Bespoke | Centralised | Beta |
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Monetised |
| Lantern | 24 | Bespoke | Centralised | In Development |
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Donations |
| Ferris Chat | 33 | Bespoke | Centralised | Shelved |
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| Hyalus | 100 | Bespoke | Centralised | Beta |
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| Mikoto | Bespoke | Centralised | In Development |
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| Valour | Bespoke | Centralised | In Development |
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| Octii | Bespoke | Centralised | Shelved |
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| Kaiheila | Bespoke | Centralised |
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| Dust | Bespoke | Centralised |
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| Harmony | Bespoke | Federated | Shelved |
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| Element | Matrix Protocol | Federated | Mature |
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| FluffyChat | Matrix protocol | Federated | Mature |
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| Commune | Matrix protocol | Federated |
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| Cinny | Matrix protocol | Federated |
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| Cabal | Bespoke | Peer-to-Peer |
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Defunct Services / Projects
| Name | Peak Registered Users | Protocol | Protocol Type | FOSS | Voice | Servers | E2EE | Historical Funding |
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| Memberset | Bespoke | Centralised |
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Monetised | |
| Hiven | Bespoke | Centralised |
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Monetised | |
| Accord (theADAMJR) | 75 | Bespoke | Centralised | |||||
| Accord (Mempler) | ||||||||
| Plausch | 5 | Discord protocol | Centralised |
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| Squirrel | Bespoke |
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| Concord | Bespoke |
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| Scintill | Bespoke |
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| Morse REMI | Bespoke |
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| Ansen | Bespoke |
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Legend
- Protocol Type: one of:
- Centralised: a single authority is used to run the service.
- Federated: multiple independent servers can join together and communicate between each other - learn more here.
- Peer-to-peer: there is no central authority and all clients connect directly to each other.
- Lifecycle indicates either an official statement on progress or a rough estimation and is one of:
- Mature: product has been released and is relatively stable.
- Beta: product is yet to release but has surpassed its Minimal Viable Product stage.
- Alpha: product is still rough around the edges and likely does not have an MVP yet.
- In Development: product is still in early development.
- Shelved: product has been delayed indefinitely.
- Active indicates whether the project is still in development or that the service is still online.
- FOSS indicates whether the project is "free and open source software" - learn more here.
- Voice indicates whether the project supports voice calls.
- Servers indicates whether the project supports creating communities or groups of channels.[note 1]
- E2EE indicates whether the project supports creating end-to-end encrypted channels.
References
- ↑ Depending on the platform, these may also be referred to as "guilds" or "spaces".