About Mumble
Mumble is an open-source voice chat program designed for low latency and high audio quality. It is written on top of Qt and Opus and is used by groups, including gaming communities, that want to talk in real time on a server they control.
The software has two parts: the client, called mumble, and the server, called mumble-server, which was formerly known as murmur. The client is available for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and macOS, and the server is expected to run anywhere Qt can be installed. General-purpose plugins can add functionality that is not built into the main application, and the interface is translated through the Weblate platform.
Mumble is written in C++, and its licence is listed as non-standard on GitHub, so check the repository for details. Documentation lives on the project website, and the README gives build instructions that vary by branch, with the master branch holding unstable code for a future release.
Key features
- Low-latency voice chat
- Opus audio codec
- Separate client and server programs
- Clients for Windows, Linux, macOS and BSD
- Plugin support
- Community translations via Weblate
Good fit for
- →Voice chat for gaming groups
- →Hosting a private voice server for a community
- Built with
- C++
- Tags
- voip
- voice-chat
- gaming
- opus
- qt
- self-hosted
- cross-platform
- c++
Mumble: questions and answers
- What is Mumble used for?
- Mumble is an open-source, low-latency voice chat program with a client and server built on Qt and Opus, popular with gaming groups and communities. It is a good fit for voice chat for gaming groups and hosting a private voice server for a community.
- Is Mumble open source?
- Yes. Mumble is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at mumble-voip/mumble and is written mainly in C++.
- Is Mumble free?
- Yes. Mumble is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
- Can I self-host Mumble?
- Yes. Mumble can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
- What is Mumble an alternative to?
- Mumble is an open-source alternative to Discord and TeamSpeak. Other open-source alternatives to Discord include Sharkord, Haven and Chatto.
- Is Mumble actively maintained?
- Yes. The most recent commit to Mumble was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v1.5.915, published on 19 July 2026. The project has 8.3k stars on GitHub.
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SaaS alternatives to Mumble
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Discord
Team Chat
Discord is a group chat and voice platform for gaming and community servers, with text channels, voice rooms and video.
SaaS
TeamSpeak
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Voice communication software for gaming teams, communities and businesses
SaaS
Google Chat
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Messaging and spaces inside Google Workspace with Meet and Docs integration
SaaS
Kik
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Mobile messaging app with private chats, public groups and communities
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Pumble
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Slack-style team chat with channels, threads and calls
SaaS
Telegram
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Cloud-based messenger with large groups, channels and bots
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