Open-source alternatives to Discord
The most popular self-hosted, open-source alternatives to Discord (community chat and voice) are Discourse (47,993 GitHub stars), Rocket.Chat (46,288 GitHub stars) and Zulip (26,067 GitHub stars). SelfHostHub lists 12 options below, taken from its Custom Communication Systems and Social Networks and Forums categories; 6 support Docker and all of them can run on your own server.
Comparison of self-hosted Discord alternatives
| Project | GitHub stars | Licence | Language / platform | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discourse | 47,993 | GPL-2.0 | Docker | Advanced forum / community solution based on Ruby and JS. |
| Rocket.Chat | 46,288 | MIT | Nodejs, Docker, K8S | Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack). |
| Zulip | 26,067 | Apache-2.0 | Python | Zulip is a powerful, open source group chat application. |
| SimpleX Chat | 19,580 | AGPL-3.0 | Haskell | The most private and secure chat and applications platform - now with double ratchet E2E encryption. |
| Flarum | 16,424 | MIT | PHP | Delightfully simple forums. Flarum is the next-generation forum software that makes online discussion fun again. |
| Answer | 15,699 | Apache-2.0 | Docker, Go | Knowledge-based community software. You can use it to quickly build your Q&A community for product technical support, customer support, user communication, and more. |
| NodeBB | 15,240 | GPL-3.0 | Nodejs, Docker | Forum software built for the modern web. |
| Tinode | 13,528 | GPL-3.0 | Go | Instant messaging platform. Backend in Go. Clients: Swift iOS, Java Android, JS webapp, scriptable command line; chatbots. |
| Fluxer | 10,614 | AGPL-3.0 | Docker | Instant messaging and VoIP platform built for friends, groups, and communities (alternative to Discord). |
| Mumble | 8,348 | BSD-3-Clause | C++, deb | Low-latency, high quality voice/text chat software. |
| Misago | 2,779 | GPL-2.0 | Docker | Fully featured modern forum application that is fast, scalable and responsive. |
| Tox | 2,695 | GPL-3.0 | C | Distributed, secure messenger with audio and video chat capabilities. |
Star counts and licences come from the awesome-selfhosted dataset and may lag GitHub slightly.
Browse the full categories
All self-hosted Communication - Custom Communication Systems · All self-hosted Communication - Social Networks and Forums
Frequently asked questions
What is the best open-source alternative to Discord?
By GitHub stars, Discourse is the most popular self-hosted alternative to Discord listed here, followed by Rocket.Chat and Zulip. The best fit depends on the features and stack you need.
Is there a free self-hosted alternative to Discord?
Yes. All 12 projects on this page are open source and can be self-hosted at no licence cost; you pay only for your own server.
Which licences do these Discord alternatives use?
The most common licences among them are GPL-3.0 (3), GPL-2.0 (2) and MIT (2).
Can I run a Discord alternative with Docker?
6 of the 12 alternatives list Docker as a supported platform.