Introduction

In 2025, community chat and communication apps remain essential for gamers, creators, teams, and social groups. While Discord continues to evolve with new features and mobile updates, several alternatives offer unique strengths—from privacy and decentralization to lightweight group chat and low-latency voice communication. Here are the top five community chat apps like Discord that you should consider using this year.

1. Discord – The Social Hub for Communities

Category: Community Chat & Voice/Video Communication

Why it stands out:

  • Cross-platform support across mobile, desktop, and web
  • Voice channels, text channels, and advanced server roles
  • Rich bot ecosystem, integrations, and media sharing
  • Continuous feature updates and engagement tools in 2025
  • Extremely popular for gaming groups, study servers, and hobby communities

2. Telegram – Fast Messaging with Group Chats

Category: Messaging & Group Chat Platform

Highlights:

  • Supports very large public and private groups with channels
  • Voice chat rooms and large file-sharing capabilities
  • Strong privacy and encryption options
  • Fast synchronization across multiple devices
  • Works well as a lightweight alternative to Discord for communities

3. Guilded – Enhanced Community & Gaming Tool

Category: Gaming & Team Communication

Key features:

  • Designed specifically for gaming communities and esports teams
  • Built-in scheduling, calendars, and team management tools
  • Text chat, voice chat, and file sharing similar to Discord
  • Clean interface focused on organized community management
  • A strong choice for gamers who want Discord-style features with more structure

4. Element – Decentralized Community Chat

Category: Open-Source & Federated Communication

What makes it great:

  • Built on the decentralized Matrix protocol
  • End-to-end encryption and self-hosting support
  • Channels, group chats, voice calls, and video calls
  • High transparency and control over user data
  • Ideal for privacy-conscious communities and open-source projects

5. Mumble – Lightweight Voice-Focused Chat

Category: Voice Communication / Gaming Chat

Strengths:

  • Ultra-low latency voice chat, perfect for competitive gaming
  • Open-source software with self-hosted server options
  • Minimal system resource usage
  • Highly stable and reliable voice performance
  • Best choice if voice quality and low lag are top priorities

Conclusion

These top five community chat apps in 2025—Discord, Telegram, Guilded, Element, and Mumble—offer a wide range of communication solutions, from feature-rich community servers to privacy-focused or voice-first platforms. Whether you need an all-in-one community hub or a specialized communication tool, there is an app on this list that fits your needs.