conversations.im seems to be pretty good
this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
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Why XMPP instead of... pretty much anything else? Mostly asking because if you're considering it as an alternative to Discord, I'm not sure you know what you're getting into.
What's wrong with XMPP? Genuinely asking.
Nothing as such, it just doesn't really do what Discord does beyond the basic chat experience. Stuff like voice calls, screensharing etc. aren't really there.
It also kinda lacks userbase, seeing that a lot of the open source federation enthusiast crowd has moved to Matrix.
a few of these things are supported in XMPP, it's just a matter of having the right client and server setup
First time I'm hearing about this, could you elaborate?
check out the software section here: https://xmpp.org/software/?category=integrated-platforms
there are ways to make voicecalls and videocalls work but it's not at easy to setup as discord or using a public matrix instance
Yeah I know there's ways to get voice calls and stuff, but the issue is that it's not standardized in any way. As you said, you and everyone involved needs just the right client with just the right home server.
Matrix on the other hand finally managed to more or less solve this with Element Call. That's not to say Matrix doesn't have its own issues, it's still not a complete Discord replacement either, but it is closer than XMPP and more likely to get there eventually.
that's fair, but setting up a matrix server is a PITA where you also have several server/client setup that may or may not use a COTURN + MatrixRTC (you also need to setup COTURN in XMPP)
Snikket has a hosted version, and if you use a JMP.chat phone number, I believe they have a partnership with Snikket where their hosted version comes bundled with the JMP.chat cost. So it's basically like Signal when it supported SMS but more open.
It's pretty easy to host your own!
XMPP is really lightweight. Just be sure to run OMEMO extension on the server for encryption.
I tried a bunch of alternatives like Matrix, but did not like it. At all. I returned to XMPP. I run one for my friends and family. Server will run on a potato. Clients too. Supports inline images and video, presence. Tons of clients to pick. Every last OS has them.
It feels like how things were before the Great Enshittification.
I use the xmpp.cz domain from jabbim.com, it's one of the oldest and more stable servers.