# The list of potential replacements: Initial writing 2/19/26, last updated 2/26/26 ## **Matrix** ### **General** I have my issues w/ Matrix. It seems hard to host, the new user experience is a little rough, and most of the clients have fucking DOGSHIT UI experiences *in my opinion*. It's a long-running standard, and that carries weight, but to a degree it also carries baggage. Hosting requirements may be pretty steep. The main instance is FUCKIN SLOW. Would need to test to see if other instances / self hosted would give the same experience. **To-do**: Evaluate that other server software to see if it's even viable. **To-do**: What desktop and mobile clients can *generate* recovery keys? Desktop: Element and Cinny confirmed. Boy it sure does run fast on an empty, unfederated server. Are you sure we have to invite more people? No user bio or pronoun support. Makes sense considering its age but it'd be nice to have. ### **Desktop Clients** #### Element The standard-bearer. I do not like the user experience of this client AT ALL, especially the channel/dm list. It's extremely confusing to me. Not very visually appealing, either. Supports all the voice and video features that can be supported at this time. Has a good public channel directory. #### Cinny Retest: Cinny is REAL GOOD (asterisk). Also on that discord chase, but good density and readability. Channel list is among the best. Has a public space search! Fully and properly supports subspaces. The little Lobby button on spaces is GREAT for discoverability. This is a ten out of ten client... *except.* (asterisk) NO VOICE OR VIDEO SUPPORT. #### Nheko Desktop client, **no web app at all**. #### Commet Braaaaaaand new. Chasing the Discord look and feel big time. Channels nest properly in subspaces, and subspaces are clearly defined as such which makes channel discoverability within those subspaces MUCH easier. Also, **supports Element X voice+video rooms!** Retest 2/26 - Commet is too incomplete to be unusable at this time ### **Mobile Clients** #### Element X Kinda the standard-bearer. I do not like the channel list experience of this client AT ALL. It's extremely confusing to me. Not very visually appealing, either. #### FluffyChat Client Suffers from a lot of the same channel list problems as Element X, though definitely a little more visual appeal. Need to retest eventually. #### SchildiNext Simply the worst channel/dm list of the bunch by default Fixable w/ Settings > Turtle Tweaks > Chat overview > Room list filters: ON. This brings it in line w/ Element X sort of... Which is *tolerable*? Cannot enable dark mode manually, what the fuck are they doing over here? And oh my god the light theme is like easter ugly. ----- ## **Fluxer** Fluxer's lead (only?) dev is talking the talk, and seems to be taking steps to walk the walk. Promises of federation and web-published forums are doing a lot for me. But they're nascent, and self-hosting is not yet possible. I can't tell if they just have an over-ambitious web designer on the team, or if they have the stink of investment on them. TBH, I think they might be getting jump-started with some level of investment. They launched with monetization already in place on their main instance, but if they make good on federation I don't know that that really makes too much difference in the long run. I WANT to hope for this one, but am keeping my expectations low. *Update 2/20*: I've read the dev's lengthy blog post and roadmaps. He explained his intentions, thought process, and bonafides, as well as his sources of funding so far. I really hope he's not just all talk because he **really is** talking the talk... At this point I really need him to publish that self-hosted stack for testing. And get a mobile app up. ## **Discourse** Discussion thread focus, but they update in real-time. Chats also exist. I think this would be poison for a small group, but might be suitable for Abmap. * Integrates w/ Mumble and can show logged on users in those VC channels. * Apparently pretty resource intensive to get up and running (4 to 8gb ram to get started). ## **Zulip** Maaaaan I wanted to like Zulip. It's got a clean look. The problem is they can't seem to get mobile notifications to work for anything less than $0.525 per user per month. Yes, even for self-hosted. IDK why this is a problem for them. > Google’s and Apple’s security model for mobile push notifications does not allow self-hosted Zulip servers to directly send mobile notifications to the Zulip mobile apps. The Zulip Mobile Push Notification Service solves this problem by forwarding mobile push notifications generated by your server to the Zulip mobile apps. Is this a problem for anyone else? Matrix doesn't seem to have an issue with this. I don't know, I know programming is hard, but this feels like an artificial limitation. ## **phpbb** Hey, how about.... How about fuck chat, embrace forums? ## **Not up for consideration** * **XMPP Protocol** - A protocol with a long history, but ends up a little antiquated. No direct voice & video support. Some clients can tie in to Jitsi for that, but it's clunky. * **Stoat** - Unless Stoat changes how self-hosted works, they're pretty dead to me. As it is, they are not looking at federation as an option, and if you want to roll your own server you have to fork the client and point it at your own instance. Not really how you want that to work. Will be subject to the same regulatory action as Discord. * **Spacebar** - Really focused on recreating discord's API performance? IDK I don't give a fuck about discord bots so I'm out. * **Mumble** - Voice focused. No video, minimal text support. * **Valour** - Valour can go fuck itself. Crypto bro shitass software. * **Rocket.chat** - Very business focused. Does not fit the vibe. Features paywalled even if self-hosted? *Update 2/27 - Okay the paywall is if you have to manage interactions from outside your community, so kinda not applicable. More for customer service stuff.* * **Sharkord** - Main dev is an AI pusher. * **IRC** - Yes, that's very funny of you to suggest. We are not considering IRC. * Anything closed-source and/or not self-hostable * Teamspeak * Root ## **Lists to watch** * https://no-bull.sh/blog/2026/02/16/in-search-of-a-discord-replacement/ * Discordless: Version one was AI generated. Version two claims no AI generation... and is now collecting data. Ostensibly just to kinda gauge the temperature of recommendations. IDK. Seems a fine resource but I'm not gonna recommend it. Too much stink on it.