this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
45 points (100.0% liked)

Free and Open Source Software

17905 readers
2 users here now

If it's free and open source and it's also software, it can be discussed here. Subcommunity of Technology.


This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Hi all, I'm looking for some Discord alternatives. All I really need is the ability to do voice calls and screen shares. It can be either via DM or channels, I only need to it be able to speak with a few friends that'd be open to moving over. I've tried Matrix/Element but there doesn't seem to be a screen share function. There's Teamspeak but I don't think that's FOSS nor does it support screen shares as well. Any other options? Basically just voice calls and screen shares is all I need, I couldn't care about channels or servers or whatever other functionalities Discord has put into their app. Thanks!

all 34 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

The Matrix network is the closest you're likely to get to Discord's features.

Nheko is a Matrix client that I believe can do screen sharing.

Eventually, whatever Matrix clients support Element Call might be what you want, but it's in beta for now.

Jitsi Meet might also be worth a look, although its (optional) end-to-end encryption was too demanding for some laptops last time I tried it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Jitsi now needs a MS or Goog account

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Only for the main instance. Its selfhostable as well.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

i can't believe so many people didn't get that part

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are there any limitations with the screen sharing for these alternatives? Audio support or resolution adjustment? I thought I've seen mentions of lack of something but I may be thinking of Discord on linux

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

discord doesn't do audio on Linux

matrix clients that support pipewire should do fine

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What? I haven't had any audio issues with discord on Linux (browser or app).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

screenshare audio, it just doesn't on Linux. not the voice chat part

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is there at this point such a thing as managed hosting of Matrix? Like i pay somebody to install, keep upgraded and in general maintain a Matrix server with bridges to all the major things, then i just use it along with my small pool of users? Even further, would that be advisable?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, managed hosting is available.

Element Matrix Services is the one that directly supports development of the project. There are others, too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

EMS doesn't support bridges unless you pay for the highest tier, but the list you linked is good.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

Jitsi has screen sharing and can be tied directly into Matrix

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

All I really need is the ability to do voice calls and screen shares.

Have you looked into Jitsi?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I would recommend using Matrix. But if you really want the "Discord experience" than I would suggest Revolt.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I've never had revolt come close to working; it always felt really buggy. ~~It also seems abandoned looking at their GitHub, there's been no activity in over 7 months.~~

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Where did you look at? The backend had a commit 2 days ago, the frontend rewrite 2 weeks ago. Looks active.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was looking at https://github.com/revoltchat/revolt/commits/master though it's been pointed out to me that's an incomplete view.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Well yeah, that's only a meta repository pointing to all the other repositories.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I don't really understand Revolt, most people don't want to self host an entire Discord (as in, a server full of servers), most people want to self host one server.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Element for Matrix

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Since everyone is only recommending self hostable options and no hoster, here is a new candidate:

OpenTalk on tchncs.de

https://talk.tchncs.de/

It is also free and open source and the server is hosted by a german who takes donations.

The also have a mumble (like Teamspeak but as you said without screenshare) and matrix instance running, which are great but not for your needs.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Signal. Works both on mobile and linked to desktop.

It should also work on Element Web, but not desktop clients.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Here to second the signal recommendation. Screen share and voice chat work without problems. No need to selfhost either. Secure and privacy friendly.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Jitsi, for sure

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Matrix using element for the client and element call or jitsi should do the trick