Chat App Comparison List
Note: Some pages are still missing from the migration so they may or may not end up being created at some point, if there's something you want to write about, feel free to just add it.
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Discord | 350000000 | Discord protocol | Centralised | Mature | VC / Monetised | |||||
Guilded | 300000 | Bespoke | Centralised | Mature | VC | |||||
Revolt | 52800 | Revolt protocol | Centralised | Beta | Donations | |||||
Nertivia | 10818 | Bespoke | Centralised | Mature | P2P | Donations | ||||
Root App | Bespoke | Centralised | Pre-launch | VC | ||||||
Fosscord | Discord protocol | Centralised | Alpha | Donations | ||||||
Gitter | Bespoke | Centralised | ||||||||
Cirlos | 138 | Bespoke | Centralised | Beta | Monetised | |||||
Lantern | 24 | Bespoke | Centralised | In Development | Donations | |||||
Ferris Chat | Ferris protocol | Centralised | In Development | |||||||
Hyalus | 100 | Bespoke | Centralised | Beta | ||||||
Mikoto | Bespoke | Centralised | In Development | |||||||
Valour | 350 | Bespoke | Centralised | Alpha | – | |||||
Octii | Bespoke | Centralised | Shelved | |||||||
Kaiheila | Bespoke | Centralised | ||||||||
Dust | Bespoke | Centralised | ||||||||
Element | Matrix protocol | Federated | Mature | |||||||
FluffyChat | Matrix protocol | Federated | Mature | – | ||||||
Commune | Matrix protocol | Federated | ||||||||
Cinny | Matrix protocol | Federated | ||||||||
Cabal | Bespoke | Peer-to-Peer |
Defunct Services / Projects
Name | Peak Registered Users | Protocol | Protocol Type | FOSS | Voice | Servers | E2EE | Historical Funding |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Memberset | Bespoke | Centralised | Monetised | |||||
Hiven | Bespoke | Centralised | Monetised | |||||
Harmony | Harmony Protocol | Federated | ||||||
Accord (Mempler) | ||||||||
Plausch | 5 | Discord protocol | Centralised | |||||
Squirrel | Bespoke | |||||||
Concord | Bespoke | |||||||
Scintill | Bespoke | |||||||
Morse REMI | Bespoke | |||||||
Ansen | Bespoke |
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".