this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2026
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If you're paying for discord nitro, consider paying for a hosted/managed matrix server instead (matrix.org)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by onlinepersona@programming.dev to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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To make it clear to those who are misunderstanding: that's a list of companies that host matrix for you. They do it at a good price.

If you and your friends chip, it'll be a few bucks a pop per month to have your own private server with voice chat rooms and video chat rooms.

It's all opensource and contributes to the ecosystem. Best of all, no age verification because the data is yours.

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[โ€“] gusgalarnyk@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Okay, then if it really is not discord, or to be specific, not self-hosted discord (because I don't care about the upfront cost of self-hosting), then I'm gonna start ignoring these matrix posts because they seem to be trying to convince people who want - someone in your link used burgers as a metaphor - A burger to instead get a hot dog.

I don't want a hot dog.

[โ€“] klymilark@herbicide.fallcounty.omg.lol 6 points 1 day ago

Yeah, they all really do feel like "Oh you want to stop playing World of Warcraft, but still want an online game to play? Try Second Life!" and I think that's partly because there isn't an app out there that feels like Discord besides Discord. Cinny (Matrix), IRC, and Stoat come close, but none support voice calls at this point, at least that I can find. Matrix itself supports calling (though I think that's still experimental), but Cinny doesn't. If it ever ends up supporting voice calls, that will likely end up being the Discord alternative In wouldn't feel bad recommending.

Until then, though, we don't really have a true Discord alternative. Just various chat apps that don't quite hit the mark.