What is Discord used for?

Discord is a group chat and voice platform for gaming and community servers, with text channels, voice rooms and video. It is a good fit for gaming groups and friend hangouts, open-source and creator communities, and study groups and clubs.

Is Discord open source?

No. Discord is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Discord include Mumble, Chatto and Mezon.

What are some alternatives to Discord?

Discord competes with Slack, Microsoft Teams and WhatsApp. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Discord alternatives.

Discord: features, pricing and alternatives

About Discord

Discord is a proprietary chat service built around servers, which are customizable spaces that hold text channels, voice channels and video. It began with gaming and is now used by communities of all kinds, including study groups, creators, open-source projects and friend groups.

The vendor describes it as a place to play games, relax with friends or build a worldwide community, with each space customized by its owner. The site also covers Nitro, its paid subscription, a server directory, quests for advertisers, safety resources including a family center and safety library, and hubs for parents, policy and privacy.

Discord is a hosted service and cannot be self-hosted. It is free to use, with optional paid Nitro features. It is mainly aimed at social and community use rather than corporate collaboration, although some companies and developer communities use it as a support channel.

Key features

Servers with text and voice channels
Video and screen sharing
Customizable community spaces
Server directory for discovery
Nitro paid subscription
Safety and parental tools

Good fit for

→Gaming groups and friend hangouts
→Open-source and creator communities
→Study groups and clubs

Tags: group-chat; voice-chat; communities; gaming; messaging; servers

Discord: questions and answers

What is Discord used for?: Discord is a group chat and voice platform for gaming and community servers, with text channels, voice rooms and video. It is a good fit for gaming groups and friend hangouts, open-source and creator communities, and study groups and clubs.
Is Discord open source?: No. Discord is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Discord include Mumble, Chatto and Mezon.
What are some alternatives to Discord?: Discord competes with Slack, Microsoft Teams and WhatsApp. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Discord alternatives.