Technology

I like Matrix but it's far from Discord right now

Matrix isn't the alternative for discord. Others have been named.

Matrix is a chat with a high regard for encryption, more an alternative to Whatsapp and signal then discord.

I would say it’s a lot more than discord. Putting it that way doesn’t give it as much credit as it deserves. My favorite out of the laundry list of features and benefits is that you can synchronize your messaging across all platforms into a single interoperable client if your choosing. You can use a better standard while not having to bug others to switch.

• 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.

There is certainly some overlap in what Discord and Matrix can do, and personally I like Matrix about a thousand times better, but it's not really a direct replacement. That's not a criticism. I don't really even want Matrix to be more like Discord. I just think presenting Matrix as a Discord replacement kinda sells it short and is likely to leave people looking for an alternative to Discord disappointed.

it's federated, but it's not a part of the Fediverse.

It is unfortunately such a PITA to self host. Spent hours a few weeks ago trying to set it up and failed.

The only real Discord alternative is https://revolt.chat

It's not e2ee but it is FOSS and you can self host. Also, unlike Discord they actually have discriminators

Matrix is a great beginning... But it is still FAR from Discord right now.

Matrix is almost there but the last bit might make chat impossible to be federated. And i say this as a matrix user and a server maintainer.

"Instant messaging" is a service with high demand. When all servers are in one location or have high bandwidth pipes between them its not much of an issue. But once you have a group chat with people on instances all over the place, some running on Raspberry Pis...you might as well be running an email mailing list.

Personally I don't think it's quite there yet. Element is probably the best Matrix app but not quite at parity for ease of use to a regular user and the general design and feel of discord is better... For now

I believe it will get there though. We've seen the enshittification cycle happen so many times to chat apps historically it's basically the most inevitable that discord will collapse eventually. Is anyone still using AIM? MSN? Case in point.

I would say it's more a Slack alternative, Discord does one click screen sharing, streaming, voice rooms, has a soundboard, and other stuff that's fantastic for friend groups.

Plain Matrix rooms are a bit too foreign to Discord users i'd say.

There's another alternative being built which resembles Discord a lot more, is federated and as i understand is built around Matrix communities: https://github.com/commune-os/commune-server

Here's a demo instance: https://shpong.com/

Looking into Matrix...(again apparently because I had an account already logged in on element) I hate to say it but, I can't forsee myself ever using that. It's waaay too complicated while simplistic at the same time. There is a permission system but, this is more similar to IRC then discord. Graphics wise it's super basic and easy to use, but I can forsee that being way too much of a pain to moderate or administrate on.

I still don't see why we can't just use IRC anymore. The protocol itself is old but reliable, and just needs a good client or two to help people compare it to Discord a bit more favourably. Though I suppose the need for a BNC to fully match it is probably a bit much of an ask for most.

Matrix was introduced a few months before Discord was launched in 2015, so better say that Discord is the proprietary and centralized alternative to Matrix 😜

its not meant to be a discord alternative, but its the closest thing we have ever gotten to thus far

Never used it but I though Matrix was more an alternative to Messaging apps (like Telegram, Signal, …) than Discord. Am I wrong ?

There is an upcoming foss client called spacebar / fosscord

I like Matrix. I have one running on a really low end VPS mostly for bridges (painful to setup but it works) and some family members but I haven't enabled the calling or video calling features. I also have never joined any public rooms. I use a different account for that with a public instance.

I'm only concerned about performance issues. It doesn't perform bad for me right now but I'm afraid if I enable calling or join larger rooms, it'll be a pain. I've heard Dendrite is supposed to be more efficient so I might try that. I also might try XMPP as I've heard it performs and scales better.

edit: I'm also looking into Revolt but it isn't decentralized and I don't think it has bridges.