Socializing is as fulfilling online as it is in real life. Whether it is your gaming community, a group of close friends, or just a team of your workmates - there are various tools to help you contact them and chat as you wish - be it via voice only, or via video too. One of such apps is Discord, but there are many more Discord alternatives to choose from as well.
There’s no doubt Discord is awesome. It offers you the ability to host video, audio, or message chats on any topic you want. You don’t even have to download anything - just jump right into the chat from your browser. Still, Discord is not for everyone and simply won't meet every individual's or team's needs.
Why Consider Discord Alternatives for your team communication?
The reason is pretty simple - if you don’t you’ll never know what you’re missing out on. Keep in mind that each of the apps and tools we will describe offers something unique or worth looking into. We’re not saying that you’ll enjoy using all of them. If, however, you decide to give a few alternatives to Discord a try, we are sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised with their features.
Best Discord Alternatives that provide better team communication solutions
What are the best discord alternatives? Don’t worry, you don’t have to look them up on your own. We have prepared our guide on Discord-like tools worth checking out. Do us a favor and let us know which one you like the most. And now, without further ado, let us jump right in!
Stork
Stork is one of Discord’s most famous competitors. The platform offers a variety of features, from audio to video calls, and of course, you can use standard text chat features too, be that a team chat or even a voice chat. Its best feature is the automatic recording and transcription of your video and audio calls, so you can always come back to them later. This means that you can jump from instant messaging to voice calls and voice messaging however you see fit, as long as you're a member of the channel. And if you need to check the notes, they're instantly available as well.
Stork’s basic plan is free, and it offers you the complete version of the tool. It’s not a “free trial'' - you can use Stork for free for as long as you want. If, however, you need a good tool for business communication, you can get it for as cheaply as $9.99/month per user!
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams, is, alongside Discord, one of the major modern communications tools. It is optimized to be used in business/work settings, but it’ll also do as a great communications tool for everyone. Keep in mind that even if the basic version is free of charge, it has certain limitations. The good news is that the plans start at $4 per user each month - and the first one is completely free of charge! If you wish, you can connect this subscription to your MS 365 business sub and save a bit. Also, contrary to Stork, recording and transcribing videos does not start automatically - you’ll need to activate this feature on your own each time you participate in a meeting.
Slack
The next tool on our list is Slack. What makes it so special? Well, first of all, it is extremely user-friendly - hardly anyone will have difficulties operating this tool. Your voice calls, video calls, group chats, etc. can be started with just a few clicks. It is also integrated with a variety of tools, such as MS Office 365, Google Drive, and a bunch of other apps.
Much like in the case of other tools we have described here, the basic version of Slack is free of charge. Keep in mind that it comes with a pretty big limitation though. If you use the free version of Slack, you are only capable of hosting 1 on 1 meetings and video calls. If you wish to partake in bigger meetings, you will have to upgrade your license. Luckily, Slack offers 3 different membership packages, starting at $6.67 per user (billed monthly), and each of these packages grants you extra benefits, so you can easily decide on the proper one for you.
Chanty
Next up on our list of Discord alternatives, we have Chanty. Yet another highly rated tool, Chanty comes with two plans available for you to choose from. The free plan is free forever. And with no hidden costs, too. Even with the free version of Chanty, you can host meetings of up to 10 people. If you are looking for something capable of taking your business meetings to the next level, Chanty also offers a paid subscription - and one of the cheapest ones on our list, at that. Chanty Business will cost you $4/month per user. ($3 if billed annually).
So, what can Chanty actually do for you? It offers a very intuitive UI, a unique “team space” which you can use to manage your workflow, and of course a great, responsive customer support team always willing to address your concerns. For $3 a month, the business version of Chanty is a steal. But, before you enter your credit card details, know that there’s a small hiccup - Chantly currently offers no ability to mute channels, which for most of the other tools on our list is basic functionality.
Flock
Surely, you have heard of Flock before. It’s yet another app ready to compete with Discord. Does it do a great job? Well, while the opinions on its video chat feature are pretty much mixed, everyone seems to agree that all the other services Flock offers are top-notch. Their file-sharing system, in particular, is often said to be one of the easiest and simplest to use, and the in-built to-do list helps manage work more efficiently.
When it comes to pricing, Flock, like every other alternative to Discord we mentioned previously, offers a free version you can keep using forever. It grants you access to unlimited 1 on 1 video calling, 5 GB of available storage for your team, and up to 10 public channels. The paid version of Flock comes for $4.50 per month per team member, and it offers you unlimited group messages and video chats, 10 GB of available storage for each member of your team, and screen sharing at any time. If that’s not enough, you can contact Flock directly and get a custom quote.
Rocket Chat
While Rocket Chat is probably one of the lesser-known tools on our list of video conferencing solutions, it doesn't mean it falls behind the competition when it comes to the services it offers. Rocket Chat proves that smaller tools and companies can provide tools as good as the ones made by the industry giants. Well, what does Rocket Chat offer, aside from the “standard” functionalities? It can easily be integrated with a lot of other tools, and also offers a quick chat feature widget that you can use on your company’s website, helping you to reach new customers faster. We do think, however, that it is quite important to inform you that some of the users of Rocket Chat reported stability issues - they do not happen often, but it is important you are aware of this fact.
Rocket Chat is yet another tool that you can download and use for free. The Pro version comes at a price of $3 monthly per user and offers you 25.000 monthly push notifications, and online ticket creation. Rocket Chat is also available as a cloud service - this option is only available to teams of more than 10 members. In this case, the basic plan is $2 per month per user.
TeamSpeak
Back to more commonly known apps and services, let's check what TeamSpeak has to offer. TeamSpeak is widely known for offering probably the highest quality audio chat service, but on the other hand, it is sometimes criticized for lacking a lot of text chat options. It is true that when it comes to text chatting, TeamSpeak is pretty bare-bones compared to Discord, but there are no doubt many people who would actually enjoy TeamSpeak for its simplicity and straightforwardness. TeamSpeak is targeted primarily to gamers, but it also works pretty well in a business setting.
Pricing-wise, TeamSpeak’s model is pretty unique. Like all the apps described on our list, it offers a free version - you will get one free server, with up to 32 slots - one per user. If you wish to increase the number of servers or users, you’ll have to purchase a license and they do tend to be quite pricey. For example, with a license containing one server and up to 64 slots, you’ll pay $55 annually. If, however, you need two servers and 128 slots - you will have to pay $100 per year.
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger is yet another tool that works pretty well in an office setting. This app is famous for how user-friendly it is. For example, if authorized, any member of a live chat can invite and add new members with a few simple clicks - that way no one will have to miss a company meeting! Also, Troop Messenger is filled with all sorts of filters and tags, helping you to search and find a given message in a matter of seconds - even if it was sent years ago. So, are there any problems? Occasionally, the app may run into a problem on launch, forcing you to restart it - this shouldn’t happen too often, however.
We do have some bad news, too. Troop Messenger currently does not offer a free version that you could keep forever. There is, however, a full-featured “On Premise” version of the app, which comes as a 15-day long free trial. After your free trial ends, you will have to continue with a subscription. The cheapest one is “Enterprise” - it costs $5 a month per user. If you want to experience Troop at its fullest potential - choose the “Premium: variant for $25/ month per user, as it offers over 60 extra benefits over the Enterprise version.
Raid Call
The last tool we will focus on today is Raid Call. It’s very popular in South Korea, and for absolutely good reasons. WIth Raid Call, you can participate in various conversations at the same time, or be part of multiple servers at the same moment. The app also offers very good VOIP capabilities (comparable to the best-paid alternatives), and a clear, easy-to-navigate User Interface, helping you to customize Raid Call to your liking.
There’s only one “license plan” and it costs exactly 0$. That’s right - Raid Call is the only unconditionally free tool on our list. That being said it’s not a perfect app as it lacks certain features and can sometimes crash on startup. But, if it’s free and, as far as we can tell, always will be.
Conclusion
Have you found an alternative to Discord that suits your needs? Before making the final pick, answer yourself the following questions: How often will your team use the tool? How much are you willing to spend? Do you need any additional functionalities, like a calendar or to-do list, or should the app just focus on providing high-quality communication services? How about screen recording/sharing, or automatic transcription? How much storage space does your team need? Finally, how many members will there be in your given team?
By answering them, you’ll make picking the right app much easier for yourself.
