The closest thing to Discord without Discord: same server and channel layout, free, no ads, open source, but younger and less polished on mobile.
What it is
Stoat is the app that was called Revolt until October 1, 2025, when it renamed after a trademark cease-and-desist; servers, accounts and features carried over. It is made by Revolt Platforms Ltd in London, started in 2021, has no ads and no paid tier, and gives everyone custom emoji, a 20 MB upload limit and per-server profile pictures. Servers, text and voice channels, roles and permissions, bots, webhooks and group DMs of up to 50 people. Video chat and screen sharing arrived on July 17, 2026. The backend (Rust, AGPLv3) can be self-hosted with Docker Compose; the latest release is v0.16.4 (November 11, 2026). Apps for web, Windows, macOS and Linux, Android in early access, and iPhone and iPad through the installed web app or a TestFlight beta. Messages are not end-to-end encrypted. It passed 1 million registered users in March 2026, and the February 2026 rush after Discord's age-check announcement caused outages. Checked November 2026.
Best for
- Friend groups and gaming servers leaving Discord
- Communities that want a free, ad-free app
- Developers who want an open API or to self-host
What we like
- Layout and features Discord users already know
- Free with no paid tier: custom emoji and 20 MB uploads included
- Open source and self-hostable
What to watch
- No end-to-end encryption for messages
- No native iPhone app yet (web app or TestFlight beta); Android in early access
- Small bot ecosystem and few of your members already have accounts
- Has struggled with capacity during sign-up surges
Where Stoat ranks
Alternatives and head-to-heads
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