Discord Alternatives: Prices and Plans Compared

Discord alternatives at a glance

Are you one of these vendors? Update your listing

How the Discord Alternatives Differ

Discord is free to use, with Nitro Basic at $2.99/month and Nitro at $9.99/month. Nitro Basic raises the upload limit to 50 megabytes (MB) and Nitro to 1 gigabyte (GB). Discord says that all information sent within its services is encrypted in transit and at rest, and that voice and video are designed to be end-to-end encrypted. The policy states no end-to-end encryption claim for text messages.

Discord's terms require users to be at least 13 and to meet the minimum age in their country. They also grant Discord a worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to use your content for providing, developing and improving its services. The privacy policy says Discord does not sell personal information and mentions machine learning systems that help it improve its services. Readers weighing a move often compare these terms with the alternatives below.

The seven alternatives split into groups. Signal and Element publish end-to-end encryption claims. Mumble, Stoat, Zulip and Element can be run on your own server. Slack and Zulip are built around work and project groups, and Telegram is built around very large groups and channels. No single option copies everything Discord does, so the sections below say what each one gives up.

Element (Matrix)

Element's pricing page lists three plans. Community is self-hosted, open source under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL), free of charge, and meant for non-professional deployments and evaluations of 1 to 100 users. Enterprise is self-hosted for professional use from 100 users and is priced per seat per month with no public price. Sovereign is for air-gapped deployments and is priced per deployment with no public price.

Element says conversations are end-to-end encrypted by default, although configuration can enable unencrypted rooms. It is the closest match for readers who want encrypted rooms plus control over where the data lives.

The trade-off is effort and cost. You run the server yourself, and a team that wants to use it in production has no public price to plan around. Enterprise is listed from 100 users, so a 10-person production group has no listed plan.

Signal

Signal is free and nonprofit, funded by grants and donations. It says it cannot decrypt or access the content of your messages or calls, and its encryption is built on the open source Signal Protocol. Its legal page says Signal does not sell, rent or monetize your personal data or content.

A phone number is required to register, and users must be at least 13 (higher where local law says so). Optional profile names and pictures are end-to-end encrypted. Signal's published pages state no group-size or file-size limits.

Signal fits family groups, friend groups and small organizing groups. It does not offer public server discovery, roles or bots in the way Discord does. A 10-person group over 12 months costs $0.

Stoat (also known as Revolt)

Stoat describes itself as free and open source, with hosted use available and self-hosting supported at no cost. Its site lists no paid tiers and says custom emoji, a 20 MB upload limit and server profile pictures need no subscription. Group direct messages are capped at 50 members.

The layout is close to Discord's: servers, channels and roles. That makes it the easiest move for a community that wants the same shape without Nitro-style upsells. Its terms refer to a minimum age without stating a number on the page reviewed, and the homepage makes no encryption claim.

The 20 MB upload limit is below Discord's Nitro Basic limit of 50 MB, and the user base is much smaller, so a community that moves will need to bring its own members. Cost for 10 people over 12 months is $0.

Slack

Slack's Free plan is $0 with message search limited to 90 days, up to 10 apps and one-to-one huddles only. Pro is $8.75 per user per month on monthly billing and $7.25 on annual billing, with unlimited history and group huddles. Business+ is $18 monthly or $15 annual. Enterprise+ is contact-sales pricing.

Slack's terms say that, where applicable law prohibits it, the service is not intended for anyone under 16 or under the applicable age of majority. Its pricing page lists artificial intelligence (AI) features on paid plans, including conversation summaries on Pro. Slack does not claim end-to-end encryption on the pages reviewed.

For a 10-person team, Pro on annual billing is 10 x $7.25 x 12 = $870 a year, or $1,050 on monthly billing. Business+ on annual billing is $1,800. Slack fits project and work groups better than hobby communities, and per-seat pricing grows with every member.

Zulip

Zulip Cloud has a Free plan with 10,000 messages of search history and 5 GB total storage. Standard is $6.67 per user per month billed annually, or $8 billed monthly, with unlimited history and 5 GB per user. Plus is $10 annual or $12 monthly per user, with 25 GB per user and a 10-user minimum.

Zulip is 100% open source and can be self-hosted. The self-hosted Free plan has all features, though mobile push notifications are limited to 10 users unless the community qualifies for an exemption. Basic is $3.50 per user per month. Zulip says most non-business use qualifies for sponsorship or discounts.

Its topic-threaded design suits organized discussion more than casual voice hangouts, and the plans page does not describe voice or video. It makes no end-to-end encryption claim. For 10 people on Cloud Standard, annual billing is 10 x $6.67 x 12 = $800.40 and monthly billing is $960.

Mumble

Mumble is free and open source and is built for low-latency voice chat. Its site lists positional audio, an overlay, access control lists and a multi-channel recorder, and says communication is always encrypted with public and private key authentication.

Mumble has no vendor-hosted service, so someone has to run or rent a server. The software costs $0, but server hosting costs are not published by Mumble. The page reviewed lists no text, video or screen-share features, and gives no age or AI-data statements.

It fits gaming groups and voice-first communities that care more about latency than about channels, bots or a polished mobile app. It does not replace the text-and-community side of Discord.

Telegram

Telegram is free. Its FAQ lists groups of up to 200,000 members, unlimited channel subscribers, group calls of up to 200 participants and files up to 2 GB, or 4 GB with Premium. Premium has no single published price because it varies by country, store and payment method.

Telegram says cloud chats use server-client encryption, while Secret Chats and group calls are end-to-end encrypted, so ordinary group text chats are not. Its terms say users in the European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK) and Australia must be at least 18 to sign up. Sponsored Messages appear in large public channels, bots and search, not private chats, and Premium users do not see them.

Telegram fits large public broadcast communities. It is a weaker fit for readers whose main reason to leave Discord is encryption for group text.

How to Choose a Discord Alternative

The reason for leaving narrows the list. For message privacy, Signal and Element publish end-to-end encryption claims for text, and Telegram offers it only in Secret Chats. If it is cost, Signal, Stoat and Mumble have no paid tiers, while Slack and Zulip charge per user. If it is control of the platform, Element, Zulip, Stoat and Mumble can be self-hosted.

Then check the limits that break a move. Group size matters: Stoat group direct messages stop at 50 members, Telegram goes to 200,000. File size matters: Stoat is 20 MB and Telegram is 2 GB. Age matters if teenagers use the space: Discord and Signal say 13, Slack says 16, and Telegram says 18 in the EU, UK and Australia.

Finally, count what a community actually loses by moving. Roles, bots and public discovery are the features most alternatives lack, and a server of strangers rarely follows an invite to a smaller app.

Who This Is Not For

This page is not for readers who need to know which app is safe for a child. It lists vendor-published prices and age rules and gives no advice on safety or parenting. It is also not for communities that depend on Discord bots, since none of the pages above describe an equivalent bot ecosystem.

What Would Change Our Answer

Any of these vendors can change price, limits or terms. A published end-to-end encryption claim for Discord text, a Stoat encryption claim, or a public price for Element's production plan would change which options fit which reader. Prices on this page are as of 2026-11-13.

When Discord Is Still the Better Fit

Discord fits communities that already live there, especially large servers that rely on voice channels, bots and public discovery. Moving a community means rebuilding it, and the alternatives above have smaller user bases.

It also fits groups that need a single app for text, voice, video and screen sharing without hosting anything. Of the seven, Slack's paid Pro plan lists group huddles, and Telegram's FAQ lists group calls of up to 200 participants; the free Slack plan allows one-to-one huddles only.

Verdict

Signal and Element fit smaller groups that prioritize encryption, Stoat and Mumble fit open source communities, and Slack and Zulip fit work or project groups. Terms and age rules differ by vendor and can change. This comparison is a snapshot as of 2026-11-13.