Joseph Boone · May 30, 2024 · 6 min read Discord was originally designed to cater to the needs of the gaming community. This should be rather evident when it comes to most of their features. Having come a long way since it publicly released in May of 2015. Discord has taken the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) scene by storm, and has shown no signs of stopping anytime soon.
That all being said, Discord is not the only VoIP application in town with something to offer. There were multiple VoIP services to choose from before Discord, and there are still more Discord alternatives being released today.
Not everyone is pleased with the service that Discord provides. There have been concerns over privacy, hacking vulnerabilities, and rumors that, in the past, Discord has been a breeding ground for unsavory communities. For some users, these complications have proven too worrisome, and cultivates the desire for Discord alternatives.
Top Discord Alternatives
There are plenty of varying alternatives to Discord, depending on what you need a VoIP service for. Not all of the choices are dedicated to gaming as their primary focus quite as Discord does though. Below, you can find what we feel are the top VoIP Discord alternatives.
TOX
Anyone whose primary concern is with security, Tox provides it in spades. Built-in military-grade encryption gives Tox users superior protection.
This makes things perfect for those who are in need of a VoIP app for having a conversation on topics other than video games. The interface may appear a bit dated, but if you can look past it, you’ll find that Tox has a lot of great features.
Tox has support for text, voice, and video chat, not to mention a nifty screen-sharing feature. File sharing is also available on the platform making Tox a great VoIP service for professional and business settings.
What truly separates Tox from the others on this list is that it has zero central servers. Instead of relying on a server that could face complications like outages and shutdowns, the entirety of Tox’s network is comprised of the users.
You can find the Tox app on mobile devices, macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Riot.im
Another service that destroys Discord in the online privacy game would have to be Riot.im. This VoIP Discord alternative service is offering end-to-end encryption on all text and voice chat communications. The service is primarily meant for team collaborations and backs up that claim with a bunch of tools to help streamline a team’s workflow.
The entire service is built on the Matrix open communications protocol which means that Riot.im will allow you to talk with anyone within the Matrix.org ecosystem.
Riot.im enables users to share messages, images, videos, and files and can be downloaded on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.
Slack
Keeping with the team collaboration trend, one cannot forget about Slack. Prioritizing professionals, as far as the UI is concerned, it’s practically Discord without the gamer feel. Instead of a haven for gaming, Slack offers an abundance of productivity features to improve your workflow.
The app provides integration with 800+ third-party pieces of business software and supports uploads of up to 1GB. When compared to Discord’s 8MB, you can tell that Slack is all about the business. Of course, you can only get these amazing features in the paid version of the app as the free version offers very limited functionality.
Even still, the professional setting and lag-free voice comms are more than enough to satisfy business-oriented teams in the market for a Discord alternative.
Overtone
If you still want something that has the look and feel of Discord without actually being Discord, then Overtone may be your preferred VoIP service of choice. Similarly to Discord, Overtone is designed with the gamer in mind.
Overtone is completely free and is based on Vivox integrated chat services, which have been widely used by League of Legends, Fortnite, and PUBG players. It also supports both voice and group chats, direct messaging, and community creation.
Ventrilo
An oldie but a goodie, Ventrilo is a lightweight Discord alternative boasting low latency voice calls and lightweight design. This means you won’t have to worry about your VoIP service draining your computer’s resources. All Ventrilo communication is encrypted, so privacy should not be a concern.
Ventrilo’s UI will take some getting used to if you’ve already settled into that which you’d find on Discord. Some may find it outright complicated if not coming from a similar VoIP service like Teamspeak3. The features are relatively minimal outside of positional sound customization, but for what it does offer, it does well and carries no complaints.
TeamSpeak3
As it’s already been mentioned, we might as well cover it. TeamSpeak3 is among the oldest chat apps for gaming communication. So many gamers used to rely heavily on TeamSpeak for their in-game communication.
To ensure low-latency comms, TeamSpeak uses opus codec, which is a coding format that was designed to efficiently code speech and general audio into a singular format making it unmatched for interactive speech and music transmission over the Internet. Teamspeak3 also provides users with the opportunity to create their own dedicated server.
o ensure low-latency comms, TeamSpeak uses opus codec, which is a coding format that was designed to efficiently code speech and general audio into a singular format making it unmatched for interactive speech and music transmission over the Internet. Teamspeak3 also provides users with the opportunity to create their own dedicated server.
TeamSpeak3 provides security in the form of AES encryption to ensure all conversations are safe from malicious entities. However, unlike the others on this list, TeamSpeak3 offers no browser support so you will need to download and install the app in order to use it.
There’s also a price tag if you plan to use it on iOS or Android, but it is available free on MacOS, Linux, and Windows.
Skype
If all you desire is a service that offers free team communication and basic functionality, Skype is always there. It’s a familiar service that is still quite popular and offers features like screen share, video chat, and file-share.
Not much benefit to gamers but in a professional setting, Skype has the tools to come in handy. The only real annoyance is the potential to weigh heavy on your computer’s resources creating irritating lag problems while attempting other things.
The basic service is completely free. The only cost comes when using Skype as an international phone service. The app is available on all major platforms, some of which may be integrated.
