this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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matrix isn't a fediverse thing, it's its own thing. it does happen to be decentralized, like the fediverse.
matrix isn't an alternative to discord. it's an alternative to whatsapp/signal/telegram/etc.
matrix is nice (I use it with my friend group), but it's not perfect. we're looking for something better.
if you're looking for a decentralized, self-hosted, open-source, secure alternative for discord, my friends and I use Mumble. It works great for VoIP (and its noise cancellation software actually seems to work noticeably better than Discord's), but it doesn't really have the advanced text chat features that Discord does. We make do with Matrix.
Why is it an alternative to telegram but not to discord?
It allows you to have personal 1 to 1 conversations and group chats, just like WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal.
Discord isn't exactly the same thing as Telegram, that's why Matrix.org is usually mentioned as an alternative to WhatsApp or Telegram but not Discord
On Discord you can have 1:1 chats and rooms as well.
But I feel both Discord and Matrix are better suited to room chats than 1:1, if for nothing else because the registration is a tad more complex than just receiving an sms, and you're not sharing your phone number with a 1000 people.
I think the general vibe is that WA or Signal is for small friends groups exactly because of reliance on phone number, while the others aren't.
Ed: also the E2E doesn't "just work" like on WA/Signal.
Yes, you can have 1:1 and rooms on Discord too, but the level of customization of rooms, roles and permissions Discord has is much more advanced than what you can find in WA, Telegram or Matrix.org.
On Discord when you're in a server you can see (usually) every other user that's on the same server, and in every room you'll see some of those people, depending on the permissions. That's not how the other options mentioned before work.
Also, on Discord you can have specific rooms dedicated to audio/video chats, on the rest (WA, Telegram, Matrix) it works differently.
I think it's mainly because of those reasons that people compare Matrix to WA and/or Telegram instead of saying it's a "Discord alternative".
there is work in matrix for video rooms, along with native group calls in matrix which once its added to the spec more clients will likely start implementing