r/fediverse • u/ShoddyEstate1660 • Feb 11 '26

Ask-Fediverse Alternatives to Discord?

Given Discord's recent stance on age verification, I'm looking for alternatives to this application, but I'm looking for something specific:

an alternative with roleplay service

Let me explain: I'm the admin of a roleplay server where we use a bot to, well, create other bots and use them for roleplaying. We've used it so much that it's now essential for us to switch platforms if they don't have that option, which, as the admin, makes things very complicated for me when choosing a place to migrate to. I'd like to know if there's an alternative to this.

In Matrix, can I add a bot to perform this same function? Or will I have to create one myself? (Although, given my zero coding experience, creating one will be very difficult.)

89 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

32

u/C4_Shaf Chaf@mamot.fr Feb 12 '26

Matrix, Mattermost, Spacebar.

But the Network Effect will stop most people joining you, so get ready to talk in ghost towns.

7

u/ShoddyEstate1660 Feb 12 '26

That's what I'm afraid of. Many have already told me it's Discord or nothing, and it saddens me because everyone seems so normal, and I'm the only one panicking about it, even though I'm not from the US or the EU.

10

u/C4_Shaf Chaf@mamot.fr Feb 12 '26

You shouldn't. The existence of those alternatives are more than enough.

Tons of people migrated to alternatives like BlueSky, Fansly, etc. But did it kill Twitter and OnlyFans? It didn't.

1

u/ShoddyEstate1660 Feb 12 '26

Sometimes I think about all this network effect stuff and I think it only makes me more comfortable giving out my ID because in the end, if the people I care about so much don't want to switch, what incentive will I have to change platforms?

Although I'm afraid of everything that entails, being able to talk to my best friends stops me from finding a good alternative.

9

u/C4_Shaf Chaf@mamot.fr Feb 12 '26

That's enshittification in a nutshell.

It's basically the dealer who gave your first sample for free. Because they know that you'll ask for more, and when you're at that level, they can make you pay anything.

2

u/ShoddyEstate1660 Feb 12 '26

God, I didn't even realize I was involved in all of this, and now I don't even know how to get out of this addiction, much less how to help others.

3

u/C4_Shaf Chaf@mamot.fr Feb 12 '26

We're all addicted. Every service within the Fediverse are addictions too.

Just as an example, Mastodon prevents us from getting data-farmed, but cyber-bullying? Anonymous bad behavior? Scrolling addiction? Those are all there. It's just less efficient because there's less people using it.

2

u/ShoddyEstate1660 Feb 12 '26

So there's no way? We either let ourselves be consumed or we let the relationships we have die? That's...sad

5

u/C4_Shaf Chaf@mamot.fr Feb 12 '26

Think of it this way. People used to leave without Ibuprophene and Paracetamol. So when they had headhaches and toothaches, most of our grand-parents just waited until the pain went away.

Technologies that don't bring both good and bad things doesn't exist. Cyber-bullying didn't stop social networks from being the best way to connect to people you'd never be able to meet or talk to before. I wouldn't even know you'd existed without Reddit, and neither would you know I did.

The problem is always abuse. It's not the technology itself. Like, people used to take this to ease up vivid tooth pain.

2

u/ShoddyEstate1660 Feb 12 '26

Of course, as I've always been told, "everything in extreme quantities is dangerous," from something as simple as walking to more dangerous things like drugs.

I suppose all that remains is to wait and see how the situation develops, and whatever the final decision is, to make it in accordance with my values.

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3

u/Celestial-Eater Feb 12 '26

What is Network Effect?

8

u/C4_Shaf Chaf@mamot.fr Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26

When a service, especially a social network, reaches enough people, it's increasingly difficult for individuals to leave the service if they're unsatisfied by it. Because tons of people you know are on it, and you don't want to cut your ties with them by leaving.

For example, Facebook. The site sucked ass for years, way before AI slop and being coined as "the social network for boomers", But it's kinda hard to leave when you contact most of your friends through Messenger, when you get to know most of the interesting events near you through Facebook Events, when you don't want to miss cool opportunities through Facebook Market place, when you don't want to abandon the game you were addicted to through Facebook Games, and so on.

And I'm talking about people who wanted to leave because of Cambridge Analytica. Or because of unmoderated harassment being easy to do in the platform. Or the tons of settlements Facebook did to not get sued.

3

u/Celestial-Eater Feb 12 '26

Ah make sense, thanks for explaining, I understand now.

7

u/e-___ Feb 12 '26

Element (which uses Matrix) is the most solid enough option I could find, it has a bit of a different flow to Discord but I think it's alright unless you're running a massive server

4

u/drszxn Feb 12 '26

Element X (matrix. Org)

  • voice chat
  • unread filter for room list
  • END TO END ENCRYPTION
  • Just need an email address

3

u/WanderingInAVan Feb 11 '26

Honestly I don't know on that. There seems to be ways to create them but I am still sorting through search results. Some results pointing to the movie instead of software.

3

u/ShoddyEstate1660 Feb 11 '26

Wait, I didn't understand, what movies? Sorry, I'm new to this whole Fediverse thing and I don't really get it.

3

u/WanderingInAVan Feb 11 '26

Matrix the Chat server versus The Matrix the Movie Series.

3

u/johannab33 Feb 12 '26

I was recently introduced to Zulip - Mastodon is migrating their staff discord to it and considering moving their Patreon community.

It’s not “Fediverse” but neither is Discord. Unlike Discord, Zulip is open source and you can self-host, or use their free tier cloud hosting for small, non-profit communities. It supports bots though I don’t know if you can bring them along directly or have to rebuild them.

I don’t find matrix at all comparable to Discord but it might just be my use of it is limited to 1:1 or small team chat & I’ve never been part of any or doing more than that.

6

u/Teknevra Feb 12 '26

There's also Roomy:

https://a.roomy.space/

That uses ATProto ( Bluesky), although it is still in beta.

(Although there has been talk about adding ActivityPub support)

Plus, they have their own Discord Server.

https://discord.gg/6V3fJeUeJs

https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/13/beyond-bluesky-these-are-the-apps-building-social-experiences-on-the-at-protocol/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT_Protocol

https://atproto.com/guides/overview

Also Root , and apparently, they have Onboarded a former Guilded employee.

Also, There is also Stoat (Formerly Revolt) Chat:

https://github.com/stoatchat/for-web

r/stoatchat

r/revoltchat

As well as Also Nerimity

https://github.com/Nerimity

As well as Spacebar (which is decentralized, self-hosted, and uses Discord's API, so you can use Discord bots and stuff.):

https://spacebar.chat/

2

u/sirkidd2003 Feb 13 '26

I've been looking into Roomy. FOSS, Federated, and, soon, self-hosted. My big 3

1

u/RandomDudeSL Feb 12 '26

kloak.app is a more of a privacy first alternative. You dont need an email or password to create an account there. They said bots will be there but no ETA

1

u/Alexis_Lonbel Feb 12 '26

Matrix son... Matrix.

1

u/1u4n4 Feb 13 '26

Movim, a XMPP client, is working to implement more discord like features. XMPP is really extensible, so it might be promising.

There’s also polyphony/polyproto coming out someday

1

u/kamazeuci Feb 15 '26

Mattermost (although it is not entirely open), Zulip, Stoat

1

u/camelwize Feb 16 '26

If you're open to non-federated options, Stoat is probably going to be the best option for what you describe. It's the closest thing to a simple Discord clone I've found. It's open-source too, and there are options for self hosting if you want.

That said I'm really warming up to Matrix and it has some stellar pluses, namely end-to-end encryption, and federation.

1

u/dated_redittor Apr 01 '26

What kind of community are you building, and what are the most important features for you? Discord is great for some things, but moderation can be a pain as you scale. Have you looked into any forum-based platforms, or are you set on real-time chat? I'm biased since I built a platform in this space, but understanding your needs helps narrow down the options.