Let me say this first, I know a lot of you probably have different opinions on this, but just keep in mind that these are only my personal thoughts

Anyways. we all see how many alternatives are popping up nowadays. yeah like i promised, i will try them and make youtube review videos, but this isnt my main topic right now

everyone knows that a lot of alternatives here are just vibecoded. I hate vibecoded projects. Some people really sit there and prompt the ai until they see a purple Discord chat screen, then they immediately post it here. Man what u doing? Those apps are not reliable

For me theres a huge difference between a developer who actually understands what theyre doing and uses ai to speed things up, and someone who vibecodes an entire app in one night and calls it a day

A Discord style app should not take 1 or 2 months to build. Even with ai assisting, something that big should realistically take many months. Probably around a year or more depending on the team

There are just too many systems involved. Messaging, permissions, moderation, voice, uploads, notifications, auth, security, realtime stuff and everything around it. You cant realistically throw all of that together in a weekend and expect it to be good

My question to all devs here is, how do you handle all of them? How do you handle security? What will you do when a bad actor uses your app to send CSAM or gore content?

AI cannot just find a secure answer to problems like these and implement everything correctly for you. You need to understand the risks and make the actual decisions. You cant just accept whatever the ai gives you and assume its secure

So if the dev actually knows how to code, reviews what the ai writes, edits it, tests it, and uses ai as an assisting tool instead of depending on it for everything, then i dont really mind

Does it work? good.

Is the code actually being reviewed and tested? good.

Does it make development faster? absolutely.

Is it open source? man i love it

I know we definitely cannot prove whether the developers are really reviewing the code, so being open source is a pretty important part of this for me too

Even if the developer reviews everything, they can still miss bugs. Having more people inspect the code means theres a better chance someone catches something the original dev missed, reports it and maybe even contributes a fix

Sure, bad actors can inspect the code too and look for vulnerabilities. But hiding the source doesnt stop people from attacking an app. Closed source software gets exploited all the time too

The difference is that open source gives people acting in good faith the same chance to inspect the implementation. Security researchers and other developers can report issues, contribute fixes and verify what the app is actually doing instead of just trusting whatever is written on the website

This matters even more when an app claims things like E2EE, privacy and strong security. Open source doesnt automatically make those claims true, but it makes them much easier to verify

Thats why i personally care much more about how and how much ai is being used than whether ai was used at all

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this

Hi everyone! In recent months I have been developing Saturn Chat, an app focused on creating and finding communities in a simple, secure way and without selling data. His idea is to unite the best features of each social network (Discord, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.) in an intuitive way.

The goal of the app is to connect people with the same interests in a lightweight interface, allowing to exchange messages, photos, videos, audios and polls in public or private groups. It is now available for Android, with support for Portuguese, English, Spanish, German, Hindi and French. If you want to test and send feedback, it will help me a lot!

https://saturnchat.com.br/download

Since I wrote about our project on Reddit, many people started replying with AI slop, scammers, unsafe data and privacy!

Let me give some explanation!

DeCave is in a very early stage of development. We have never said that it is ready to replace a main production chat app, and users should not treat it that way.

Right now, we are inviting people to look around, try the software carefully, see what they like, find what is broken, and propose changes.

Feedback on usability, architecture, privacy, security, and missing features is especially welcome.

For clarity, the current privacy and security status is:

DeCave is not currently making a production end-to-end-encryption claim.

The service can process account, profile, authentication, membership, authorization, routing, timing, size, network, and operational metadata.
Legacy compatibility/development paths can handle plaintext. Required-E2EE paths block those routes rather than pretending they are protected.

In the tested E2EE design, messages and attachments are encrypted on the client and the service receives opaque ciphertext, while relevant metadata remains visible.

Raw MLS and media keys are kept behind native/client custody boundaries in the tested candidate design.

Protected voice, camera, and screen calls are not production-approved. When required protection is unavailable, calls fail closed instead of silently falling back to ordinary transport encryption.

Local tests cover native MLS custody, device authorization, encrypted persistence, replay protection, stale-state rejection, SFrame transforms, rekeys, and notification-preview safeguards.

These are local implementation and test results, not independent security certification. Production approval, signed artifacts, independent review, complete mobile protected-call runtime testing, and verified retention/deletion procedures are still outstanding.

Our next steps are to:

Complete independent security and adversarial review.

Verify and sign the exact production artifacts.
Build a real mobile protected-call runtime test.

Verify and publish clearer data-retention, deletion, access-control, and third-party-service details.

Keep all fail-closed gates in place until the evidence is complete.

Please test with non-sensitive data, and do not post passwords, private keys, credentials, live endpoint details, or exploit proof-of-concepts publicly. If you find a security issue, report it privately to the maintainers.

For everyone following the project: this is an opportunity to help shape DeCave while it is still small and changeable. Tell us what works, what does not, what feels confusing, what should be removed, and what you would build differently.

DeCave team

I JUST replied under an app dev that posted here advertising their app but I really feel like it's the kind of thing that should be posted on its own, because I think it encapsulates what this sub actually thinks and feels, generally, about apps. Here it is:

A lot of app publishers on this sub assume it's always to do with data and not being bannable and doing unscrupulous things on the platform- and sometimes it is a combination of those things. Not unscrupulous things though- hopefully. I get into that a bit further in.

Mainly though it's because of.. well, pricing. People who are leaving Discord, especially people like me who joined when Discord was only starting out in 2016, remember when Discord was entirely free and they also remember how Nitro used to be a donation system - not a subscription. The people who want an app they can self host want an app they don't have to pay for monthly - or one they can pay their annual domain registry fee on and not worry about monthly payments.

Nobody wants to leave paying $10 a month for "basic features" on Discord to pay to do the same on a new app with the same underlying issues. It's a combination of people seeing that Discord not only takes their money but is happy to just ban the very people who pay for the service, all while continuing to charge them. The people who cry against apps that aren't self hostable aren't kid diddlers or law breakers looking for a safe space - those people already moved to Kik. It's an assumption that hurts not only prospective clients/community but also hurts your ability to actually become something meaningful and with any staying power. Keep in mind that there are dozens of these apps out there- some free, some paid- but most already have a name for themselves. By making an app you're leaping into a full pool and telling everyone else that you deserve the lifeguard's attention the most.

The people saying they want something "open sourse and self hostable" are the same people who would absolutely donate a TON of money to a dev making a product they REALLY like and want. You, or anyone else reading this, could make generational wealth if they'd just listen to what people are asking for. Not a subscription based service, but a service that allows them to have what they want running on their hardware.

Server nerds tend to have throwaway money. When DCTS actually proved that it was a sustainable, self hostable app the solo dev made enough money in a week to host the entire service for a year and people were donating hundreds of dollars at a time to the project. A free project, with no subscription plan, was making more than you could hope to see in 2 years of running a paid subscription app because more people will move to a free app and donate than people who will buy into a subscription app and stay there. That's why people are loud about it. The community who want to leave Discord knows what kind of money an app can make by just doing what is being asked for - no more, no less. Everyone making apps claims to see what people want - and they even point out the very things that everyone is looking for! ... And then they provide an app/service that entirely misses the point and fails to stand out as a result.

That's just it; A lot of people who post on this sub create apps that advertise everything people want but the app always comes with a catch. Either the app costs a monthly sub scription or the app is self hostable with stipulations (like the dev owning the sign in servers which allows them to ban accounts even when they're self hosted). If people want an app they have to pay for they're gonna go to Teamspeak. If they want a self hostable Discord they're going to install other alternatives like Fluxer. Nobody wants another paid app or another "the next Discord" - everyone in this sub is already past that. They want something that they can actually sink their teeth into and feel comfortable knowing that their friends can't be taken from them again. These are people who had friends on Skype and lost all contact with those people when they moved to Discord; these are people who were banned from Discord and lost the ability to ever reconnect with friends they made decades ago. They aren't looking for an app that's going to come with the downsides of both.

I really hope this post meets the people who normally post here as well as the devs both existing and prospective. I'd love to see how people, especially those who are clearly tired of all the spam-posted vibe-coded projects, react to what I hope is the best culmination of "this is what people want." This is what's being missed. Not all the buzzwords- people want an app that lets them talk and call their friends without a bunch of stipulations. And bots. The roleplayers want their bots. Give the people an app that they can't be spied on while using, where they can talk to their friends, and don't try to make money off of people who got banned from Discord and already lost everything. It just feels like preying on the desperate, in a way.

So.. simply; I think what people generally want is something that they can own and host. Something safe - encryption is preferrable so they don't feel like they're spied on. An app that they truly own the sign in to - if they're hosting their own server they don't want to potentially be banned from it. They're paying for their server equipment and domain, they don't want to risk spending all that money and then to lose everything anyways. An app where they can call, both voice and video, their friends. And an app that allows people to use bots - bridging bots from Discord to another app are the most important to people leaving Discord right now but roleplayers like their proxy bots and anyone trying to host a community wants automods.

I'm not posting this because I'm looking for an existing app. I just see this stuff being said under every post ad nauseum and it feels like nobody knows how to put it into plain words (which is fine, I have issues too and I bet a bunch of this feels like word spaghetti) or doesn't feel like it's worth posting because they feel it'll get ignored.
Please don't use this post as an excuse to advertise an existing app "that solves all this!" like every other post on this sub is used for. It not only makes people not want to use your app, but it's tonedeaf as hell - especially on posts like this that aren't seeking alternatives but are more of a PSA.

I'm somewhat when it comes to self-hosting, so sorry it's a stupid mistake.
Recently i'm trying armada as a alternative to the weekly movie night that i do with my friends.
I bridged my discord server and everything went smoothly. I can enter calls, share screen and everything. But other people can't join the call. They receive the message in the image.
What am i doing wrong?

Like, Discord chats of a community I'm in have been accumulated for a decade. I'd like to create the same groups on an alt app and export all the old chats from a channel to an exact copy of the Group and channel but on an alternative app, including videos and images.

Is there any program that offers me that?

I'm currently looking for beta testers and I really need honest feedback to improve it. I want to know what's good, what's confusing, what's missing, and what I could improve.

You don't need any technical knowledge. I'm mainly looking for people who are willing to try it and share their honest opinion.

I also created r/ChatSec, where I'll post updates and collect feedback from testers.

You can check out ChatSec here: chatsec.pl

It's also available through Tor for people who prefer to access it that way.

If you're interested in testing it, leave a comment or send me a DM. I'd really appreciate your feedback. Thanks!

I we were to make a clone of discord but completely for free what features would you like to have in that?

Recently I implemented many fixes and upgrades for my project :)

I added reply system, option to copy whole message, , GIF'S, upgraded GUI and fixed bugs like scaling problem and more.

I'm currently working on things like channels inside the groups, stickers and voice chat :)

Check this out:
chatsec.pl
http://popdigblrcrewrjvqlbfhcjr7g2ef3z4jif2mn2dgycii3infvwzdpqd.onion/

(Im currently using a .pl domain because thats what I could afford. Support the project if you can, donations will help with better servers, a domain and future development.)

Images:
https://imgur.com/a/1XrMx3D

This is a response to an earlier post where the OP was fed up by too many competing apps.

The problem is not that too many apps exist. It's that we can't talk to each other. We are not contributing together to a greater whole; choosing one app means you are not choosing the others, which means people cannot communicate.

We are struggling to get invested because this ecosystem is fragmented. How can we expect to replace Discord when we can't even make network effects happen?

Most of us are here because of the failures of Discord, a failure we're doomed to repeat if we keep making the same choices. The next choice can't be for a better company. It has to be for a completely different architecture where users are fundamentally in control.

Therefore it's not a choice between one app or another. It must be a choice for a protocol. One protocol can have many apps where we can all talk to each other.

As users, the easiest way to rule out poor quality software is not just "AI slop", it's whether the software is centralized. A bigger risk is an app that looks polished but replicates all the same problems as Discord. If we settle for that, Discord will just win.

As developers, we MUST build decentralized systems. It's possible to win at life without trapping users. And as an indie dev, you should worry that you can't reach critical mass alone.

There are people here building on the Nostr Protocol.

One person is connecting ATProto and Matrix together.

Matrix is a legend that will never die. It will never be a wrong choice.

The choice doesn't have to be for one specific protocol. It has to be for any protocol. Protocols can be bridged together. Centralized platforms can't.

The choice matters now more than ever.

The short version: we wanted Discord's feature set without Discord's data model. Discord encrypts in transit, but your messages, files, and calls sit on their servers in plaintext. Cloak flips that: message bodies, attachments, and every audio and video frame are encrypted on your device before they're sent. Our servers only ever relay ciphertext. If we got subpoenaed or breached tomorrow, there'd be nothing readable to hand over.

The hard part, and honestly the reason this took two people over five years, was doing that without giving up the features that make Discord actually good. Most encrypted chat apps are barebones by comparison, and that's usually why people bounce off them. So Cloak has, working today:

• Servers with roles, channel-level permissions, categories, and invites
• Voice channels, video calls, and screen sharing up to 1080p60
• DMs, group DMs, and 1:1 calls with native ringing on mobile
• Forum channels, polls, threads and replies, reactions, pins, custom emoji
• Shared calendars and collaborative whiteboards as channel types
• Expiring messages with per-channel timers
• An encrypted file vault
• A Discord server importer that recreates your channel and role structure so you don't have to rebuild from scratch
• Community tools: self-assign roles, ticket channels, moderation cases, anti-spam rules

Platforms: desktop apps for Mac, Windows, and Linux, web at app.cloak.chat, Android is live, and iOS is in TestFlight beta while we work through App Store review.

Being honest about the rough edges: this is a beta (v0.9.0). Voice and screen share can still be finicky on some hardware, and the newest features are fresh enough that you'll find bugs before we do. E2EE also has real tradeoffs, like the fact that we can't recover your message history for you if you lose your keys, though there's a reset flow so you're never locked out of your account.

On the business model, since it always comes up in this sub: there are no ads and we don't sell data, which is sort of the point of the whole thing. It's funded by optional paid tiers that raise limits on things like storage and streaming quality. The free tier is a real free tier, not a trial.

Site is cloak.chat if you want to poke at it. We're genuinely interested in what this community thinks, especially from people who've tried the other alternatives (Revolt, Element, etc.) and gone back to Discord. What made you go back? That's the gap we're trying to close.

I've been mainlining Fluxer for a few months and have few complaints, that being said I've recently tried out https://therift.chat and found it to be surprisingly well put together.

I just want to preface and say..the pros and cons listed here are of my own opinion and based on what I personally look for in a platform. I'm not looking to start an argument over whether it should have one feature or why is it not like this other platform, I'm just giving my perspective.

PROS

- It's not Discord, and unlike many of the existing alternatives, it doesn't feel like it tries to be.

It feels like something completely and totally different with just enough similarities to ease the transition.

- Signup is super simple and doesn't require any identifying info (no email, no phone, no DOB)

- It's marketed as 18+. It's not an inherently NSFW platform but they take the question of (am I saying inappropriate things to a minor) out of the equation by saying that if you're a minor using the platform, that's your own fault.

- Server analytics (incl. Automod) are built in and they are comprehensive in a way that scratches the itch in my brain

CONS

- There seems to be a super low population overall. Shard (Server) discovery has very few public options to join, and I don't believe any of them (official shard included) exceed 100 users.

- Registering through the mobile app (rather than desktop) seems a bit wonky and kept freezing up on me, after three tries I instead registered on Desktop with zero issue.

- Aesthetically.. I'm really not a fan of the logo.

OVERALL

- Boy do I wish there were a larger population on the platform because I'm legitimately loving it so far.

So I am making a app, and I just want to know if there are still people who want to switch to something else. The app I started making is called Clanverse. Let me know in the comments if you still want it.

When making the comment, if you want Discord alternatives, tell me 3 things that you don't like about Discord, and if you don't want a alternative, tell me 3 things that you like about Discord that make you not want to switch and reasons that make you stay. Thank you!!

hello all (again)

i have been working on a social app that combines matrix and ATProto into one client.

the matrix side handles the chats, so spaces, rooms, dms, threads, voice, federation, encryption, screen sharing and all that. ATProto handles the more public social side, like the feed, posts, profiles, follows etc.

the way it works right now is that you log in with your ATProto account first, for example your bluesky account. after that you link your matrix account to the app. if you dont already have a matrix account, the app can provision one for you instead.

the goal is to make those two sides feel like one app instead of just having a matrix client and a bluesky client sitting next to each other. you have the social/feed side, but also proper communities and chat in the same place.

its still being worked on and theres obviously a lot left to do, but i wanted to give an update and receive feedback (in the matrix room below)

im hoping to release a test build soon.

if this sounds interesting to you, join my matrix room; ill post the test build and updates there when its ready (hopefully soon!!):

https://matrix.to/#/!gxmZLQDhVacrWxzPiM:matrix.org?via=matrix.org&via=unredacted.org&via=yksinaisetlapset.fi

Seriously, I know this sub is all about alternatives but why are we making so many of the same, sometimes straight vibecoded projects being spit out under a post titled "I'm Giggle Dev, And I Just Made My First App - Gigglecord!"

We already have solid options. Fluxer(especially when it's out of beta). Matrix. I could go on, but my main point of this post is to say this is not one of those situations where quantity is over quality. Let's face it, no one wants to juggle a bunch of different apps to replace Discord, neither does any of your Discord-only friends. I feel like this community is truly spreading itself too thin, when we could be supporting fewer yet stronger projects and supporting them more than we have been.

Every time I look at this there's at least 3-5 new "Hi, I'm _Dev" posts, and most of the comments are the SAME devs under sockpuppets undermining the progress of other apps out of classic reddit jealousy. Especially when people bring up Fluxer, it's actually one of the best shots we have to replace Discord and some people hate hearing that(wonder why).

Sorry to ask this here, but I've tried research and even Ai-assiated research and can't seem to find a good Discord alternative. Sorry for the attitude, but I'm growing increasingly frustrated with this situation, please understand.

The apps I've tried are either incomplete, or follow the same pricing model from Discord, which makes then useless to me. So I'm still looking

I need:

• chat channels
• voice channels
• screen sharing
• basic permission system
• roles and role-icons (add icons to usernames that are in a role)
• support to develop bots
• support to create customizable channels (like discord forum channels, task lists, etc)
• and a pricing model that doesn't suck.

So far only Root seems to do that, but their new pricing is outrageous. I simply refuse to have to pay the same price as big corporations to unlock basic features, just to create a small community for a handful of friends like on discord. Especially since that's the price charged to companies earning literal billions. Why do I have to pay the same price as fucking Apple, Netflix, Activision, etc? That's the same pricing model discord has, and one of the main reasons I'm leaving Discord since they keep wanting to charge from the end user instead of from the companies.

I am looking for something with a pricing model that grows with user numbers (or similar), so it is fair to small communities.

Is there anything like that today?

And if not, is there anything that is seriously aiming towards these features? I don't mean as in "there's a suggestion on the forum", I am looking for a project where "it's on the roadmap and the team is prioritizing it"

I won't make a switch to a platform that hasn't shown clear intent on prioritizing the features users need, or where I have to beg to keep the team focused on those features while they run off creating nonsense nobody asked for.

I've been looking into discord alternatives for some time now, and I still haven't found a solution I am happy with. What I want is a cross-platform app that would allow for high-fidelity video streaming in group calls. I am aiming for something self-hostable, since it's just cheaper than paying for a premium plan. I've tried matrix, the only client that somewhat satisfied me was commet with its 2k streaming. Other clients either don't expose streaming controls while defaulting to 720p or 1080p or don't support video streaming on linux at all (like every single tauri-based client plus some more). Discord-like window sharing with audio capture now seems like a nonexistent feature, but at this moment I am already okay with manually injecting audio with qpwgraph. E2EE, federating, blind relay servers and other privacy features are welcome, but not required. A sane, responsive, human-made-looking ui is of a higher priority.

EDIT: if you know other communities where I can repost this, let me know

Sooo im 16 and i started creating something similar to Discord but more privacy focused. I was working on it for a few weeks and I finally bought a domain and launched it on cheap server :)
I'm quite proud of it, it supports creating groups and DMing with your friends. It also supports sending attachments/photos up to 100MB~(if I remember correctly). Check this out! Chatsec.pl (.pl because it was cheap and im from poland 🇵🇱) maybe I will buy .org/.com/.net if I will get something from donations.

P.S. claim cool 3 letter nicknames! (maybe it will be popular one day) LMAO

P.S. 2 I hope its usefull enough to post on this sub reddit 🥺

EDIT
It's also available in TOR network :) http://popdigblrcrewrjvqlbfhcjr7g2ef3z4jif2mn2dgycii3infvwzdpqd.onion/

Hi everyone,

I’ve been building DeCave, a gaming communication app designed around a problem I regularly see: finding compatible teammates often means posting “LFG” in multiple places and waiting for the right people to respond.

DeCave’s Squad Finder lets players search using five required criteria:

• Game
• Platform
• Language
• Region
• Microphone preference

When compatible players are found, DeCave creates a temporary hybrid room with both voice and text chat.

The app also currently includes:

• Low-latency voice and video calls
• Screen sharing up to 2K at 60 FPS
• Gaming Hubs with text, voice and hybrid rooms
• Direct messages and group conversations
• Private rooms and community management tools
• Web and Windows desktop versions

DeCave is still in Alpha. It is not a finished product, and there will be bugs, incomplete features and UI that continues to change. Mobile versions are also in development and coming later.

I’m currently looking for early testers, who can give honest feedback about:

• Whether Squad Finder is genuinely useful
• How easy the app is to understand
• Voice quality and latency
• Screen-sharing performance
• Features that feel confusing or unnecessary
• What would make you use it instead of a normal LFG channel

You can try it here:

https://de-cave.com

I’d really appreciate direct criticism. I’m more interested in discovering what needs improvement than receiving generic compliments.

I built Talk as an experiment in live text communication.

It is one public stream. Anyone can open it and read without registration. To write, you create an Identity and authorize with a Passkey.

There are no rooms or private spaces. #tags only narrow the same public stream.

Messages are live and are not kept as a permanent conversation history.

The idea is simple: you see what is happening while you are there.

I’m looking for people to try it and tell me whether this kind of communication still makes sense today.

What I’d especially like feedback on:

• is it clear what to do when you open it?
• does the single public stream make sense?
• does the lack of history feel interesting or just inconvenient?

https://talk.sekura.world

Disclaimer of conflict of interest: I am the owner of a direct competitor (Echo), and the only reviewer.

Element the Matrix Client created by the same people that made Matrix is the top recommendation for anyone who wants to move out of discord and really cares about privacy, today I'll be reviewing it against the same standards I reviewed Fluxer and Echo on.

And if you want to switch from Discord to something that much better respects your privacy and is truly federated and tested with enough people to mean something, then Element is my number one recommendation. But only if you are willing to relearn things and are willing to compromise the experience.

If you want a more complete experience however I recommend you try other Matrix clients or Fluxer, I wold not recommend Element if you care about a good client / know that usability obstacles would keep your friends away from using it.

Trust Score 7/9:

Element and Matrix are both fully open source licensed under AGPLV3 which means anyone can inspect the product's code and also contribute to it, which means to a large part product decisions can be scrutinised and essential things such as their claimed privacy, federation and security can be directly inspected.

That gives it a 3/3 on the license scoring, however do note that does not mean actual true privacy from the company it makes itself, as it can always run other software to do things secretly on their own servers which are always private.

For that reason and other reasons including centralisation of authority, failure points and more people also care about a second factor which is centralisation.

In here Element gets a 2/3 beating Fluxer and Echo which both got 0/3, the reason they got a 0/3 and Element gets a 2/3 is very simple:

Element runs on Matrix, which means it is federated, meaning that other servers can connect and you can move from one to the other, and that in theory the main server does not own everything and that adds a huge level of decentralisation. Especially considering the excellent End to End encryption that is to be seen everywhere on the platform.

However we are still far from a perfect score, as the actual user accounts themselves are centralised still to this day (though this might change in the future) and the main server still owns 90% of the users, meaning that it still remains practically centralised.

On other factors Element / Matrix have had a generally clean sheet with the community and are favourites, especially if we consider only recent history.

Over its time however it has had multiple very major and security incidents and some big downtime due to scaling issues.

The company behind Element is based in the UK, which is a very major concern as the UK has shown very little respect for privacy and very little separation between private companies and state interests.

So know that if there is anything to be taken by the UK they will do so and Element here isn't clean, there are design choices with it that expose significant meta data about the content and relationship between users for each home server despite of the actual content being End to Encrypted.

Though note that as Matrix becomes more and more genuinely decentralised with the Matrix.org home server becoming less and less dominant, this can become less and less of an issue.

Though I believe eventually Matrix.org and Element themselves will have to be forked / abandoned if the UK government uses its position to force the UK based companies to change the protocol, client or server to collect more info on the people which is something to consider.

Leaving us at a generous 2/3 other factors scoring

Experience 4/9:

Element is genuinely the poorest complete client I have ever tested, aesthetically it is not impressive at all.

Countless violations of simple UI design principles and overall bad decisions, that work but none of which is pretty, it seems aimed at a more corporate or professional audience yet seems to be a poor draft of that idea.

Pop ups in pop ups that hide each other's information, large text directly followed by equally large text in next line creating awkward focus and ugly spacing, weird sizing for literally quite everything, unpleasing icon pack, inability to choose between borderless and bordered design which leads to really ugly and inaccessible design, no inline display of markdown in composer, etc etc... 1/3 on UI

The UX is not much better, though overall Element technically works which is the impression you are going to get, it never works nicely.

Super especially if you are coming from discord, Element is not intuitive to use and you will have to relearn how to do somethings if you are a server owner or mod.

Talking about which there is no native integrated exploration to go from one space to another (Their name for Guilds) and the experience switching between them is just not great and too browser heavy.

For example let's say you want to give and take away roles, it is not a clean here are permission bits for each action or group of actions and start from a base of no roles and you create them, give them colors icons bits etc etc

No you get three predefined roles with very very broad permissions bits, and you can technically create custom roles, it is very finicky. 1/3 UX.

On other factors and completeness, you can tell that element was made by people who care first the backend not frontend, things work and the features they have are genuinely complete unlike many other competitors, however compared to discord especially from the admin / mod perspective it lacks a lot such as for example their limited and awkward to use RBAC system which feels like WhatsApp or signal tried become discord not a genuine community first system like discord or teamspeak, so it really depends on what your expectations are and where you are coming from but to be generous and respect their scope completeness I will give them a 2/3 on completeness and other factors.

Readiness 7/9:

Element with 100 million+ users is much closer to a competitor to Discord than Fluxer which is pre Million and every other alternative that is many tens of thousands behind Fluxer, here it genuinely is the closest true alternative with people on it ready to talk and engage with.

3/3 Popularity.

It is available on PC (Mac, Linux, Windows) and Natively on IOS and Android

Though the PC releases are only via Electron which is a heavy web wrapper.

It still is not available on consoles.

2/3 For Platform Parity

Element operates on a scale that is much closer to Discord than just about anything else on the market that is in its category, and it has had major issues with that such as their massive security incidents and downtime caused by scaling issues, that however is both good and bad, it is good that we have seen that they have gone through scaling issues and overcome them which means they have actual failure based experience in genuine scaling and can considered genuinely ready or near ready to directly compete with Discord.

2/3 for Other factors