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
Discord	350000000	Discord protocol	Centralised	Mature						VC / Monetised
Guilded	300000	Bespoke	Centralised	Mature						VC
Revolt	44000	Revolt protocol	Centralised	Beta						Donations
Nertivia	10818	Bespoke	Centralised	Mature			P2P			Donations
Fosscord		Discord protocol	Centralised	Alpha						Donations
Cirlos	138	Bespoke	Centralised	Beta						Monetised
Lantern	24	Bespoke	Centralised	In Development						Donations
Ferris Chat	33	Bespoke	Centralised	In Development
Hyalus	100	Bespoke	Centralised
Mikoto		Bespoke	Centralised	In Development
Accord (theADAMJR)	75	Bespoke	Centralised	In Development
Accord (Mempler)
Plausch	5	Discord protocol	Centralised	Alpha
Memberset		Bespoke	Centralised	Beta						Monetised
Hiven		Bespoke	Centralised							Monetised
Valour	800	Bespoke	Centralised
Squirrel		Bespoke	Centralised
Concord		Bespoke	Centralised
Scintill		Bespoke	Centralised
Morse REMI		Bespoke	Centralised
Octii		Bespoke	Centralised
Kaiheila		Bespoke	Centralised
Ansen		Bespoke	Centralised
Harmony		Bespoke	Federated
Element		Matrix Protocol	Federated
FluffyChat		Matrix protocol	Federated					–
Commune		Matrix protocol	Federated
Cinny		Matrix protocol	Federated
Cabal		Bespoke	Peer-to-Peer

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.
• 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.
• E2EE indicates whether the project supports creating end-to-end encrypted channels.