Amidst the changes coming for Discord next month, the platform is bleeding users to alternative options. If you’re looking to migrate to a new chat client, this article aims to provide an overview of options.

Why are people looking for alternatives?

Discord announced its intent to roll out age verification globally for all users. That means many accounts will be asked to upload an image of a legal ID or share a video selfie – both privacy invasions.

The company says that for the majority of adult users, age data will be automatically inferred based on information like account age, server access, and more. Most users won’t have to confirm their age.

However, Discord suffered a data breach late last year that included the names, emails, and IDs of those who verified after the UK and Australia’s age verification laws came through. It’s no wonder that people aren’t quick to trust the platform with sensitive information.

If you choose not to verify, your account will be automatically marked as a “teen account.”

Discord Teen Account Features

Teen accounts can still use most Discord features with a few restrictions.

• Automatic content filtering will be forced enabled on teen accounts, meaning any content Discord determines as sensitive will be censored.
• Age restricted servers, channels, and commands will be inaccessible.
• Direct messages from unfamiliar accounts will be sorted into a separate inbox by default.
• Friend requests from unfamiliar accounts will have a warning prompt on them by default.
• Only age verified accounts can speak on the stage feature in servers.

That means that for most users, a teen account will function the same as usual. Nevertheless, users are looking for other platforms to migrate to.

There are several open source options out there and a few proprietary ones. Here are three of my top picks.

Matrix

Matrix is an free and open source, federated, decentralised network protocol for secure instant messaging, Voice over IP, and IoT communication.

That means there’s a variety of client options out there for you to choose from, and you can use the platform in a variety of ways.

Federation and decentralisation are complex concepts, but essentially it means you can use any client you like from any server to communicate to other users on different clients and servers over the same protocol.

As a free and open source protocol, no single corporation owns it, too. The Matrix foundation is a non-profit community interest company that safeguards its open standard.

Matrix has many clients to use with it. Some of the most popular ones include Element, Cinny, and Commet.

The client you choose determines what features you have access to, such as end-to-end encryption (E2EE), voice chat, threads, and more.

Element is owned and developed by the Matrix foundation, and is a for-profit firm designed to attract funding for Matrix development. It’s one of the most mature clients on the platform, and offers all the bells and whistles like E2EE, voice chat, spaces, and more.

Cinny is a text-only platform for Matrix with E2EE support. It’s not as fully featured as Discord, but if you’re looking for a familiar interface, here it is.

Commet is a platform still in beta that aims to provide a familiar interface and full features. It’s encrypted, supports voice calls, and threads. As it’s still in beta, you might run into issues, but it’s definitely a client to keep an eye on.

You can check out more about the Matrix protocol and its clients on the organisation’s website.

Stoat

Stoat (previously called Revolt) is a free and open source platform that provides much of the same functionality as Discord. It has text and voice chat, mentions, direct messages, and servers.

A simple quote from the founder Insert says it all: “My vision is chat software that doesn’t suck.”

The platform has been seeing rapid adoption in the wake of Discord’s privacy controversies, but it has been keeping up with demand so far.

Unlike Matrix, Stoat doesn’t currently offer federation – it’s just a single client for communication on its own platform.

The team is currently working on end to end encryption for chats and more robust authentication.

If you’re after a simple drop-in replacement for your Discord servers, Stoat is definitely worth a look. You can check it out on the platform’s website.

Teamspeak

Don’t bother checking the calendar – it’s definitely 2026. Teamspeak is the ancient giant awaking from its slumber.

Originally released in 2001, the platform is a proprietary voice chat protocol using dedicated servers.

The current client looks a lot different than the one you might remember using back in the day. It now offers rich content like images and gifs, and the server interface is better sorted into channels.

The bones of the original client are still there though – it’s a very busy interface by today’s standards.

Teamspeak provides AES-based encryption on servers and the platform does not have access to voice or text chat data. However, as a proprietary service there’s concern about this changing in the future.

Teamspeak is available from the company’s website. It’s a free download but licenses are required to operate servers above 32 slots.