Stoat vs Discord

Why Switch from Discord to Stoat?

Discord became the default community chat platform of the 2020s — gaming, hobby groups, study groups, open-source projects, professional communities. The platform’s polish and feature breadth are real. The trade-offs are also real: Discord is a US-headquartered private company, all content and metadata pass through US infrastructure under US legal process, and the business model (monetising attention plus Nitro subscriptions) shapes which features get prioritised. Past incidents around content scanning, US law-enforcement requests, and platform moderation decisions have made some communities reconsider.

Stoat is the European open-source alternative. Formerly known as Revolt (the long-running Discord-alternative project), it relaunched as Stoat in late 2025 with the same codebase, contributors, and trust signal. AGPLv3 licensed, Rust backend, Europe-based core team, cross-platform clients, and a 2,500+ star self-host community. For communities that want Discord-style features without the structural US-platform dependency, Stoat is the structurally aligned choice.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Stoat	Discord
License	AGPLv3 open-source	Proprietary
Self-hostable	✅ Yes (full backend)	❌
Jurisdiction	Europe (per project metadata)	United States 🇺🇸
GDPR	✅ Native	⚠️ Provider claims
CLOUD Act exposure	❌ None	⚠️ Yes
Servers / channels	✅	✅
Voice channels	✅	✅ Best-in-class
Bots & automations	✅	✅ Massive ecosystem
Roles & permissions	✅	✅
File sharing	✅	✅ (Nitro for >25MB)
Mobile apps	✅ iOS / Android	✅
Desktop apps	✅ Win / macOS / Linux	✅ Win / macOS / Linux
End-to-end encryption	⚠️ Not default	❌
Pricing	Free (open source)	Free + Nitro $9.99/mo

For self-host sovereignty and open-source flexibility, Stoat wins. For breadth of bots, integrations, and audience reach, Discord still wins.

Two Ways to Run Stoat

1. Use the hosted instance (stoat.chat)

The simplest path — sign up at stoat.chat, create your server, invite your community. The hosted infrastructure is operated by the Stoat core team. Setup time: 5 minutes.

2. Self-host

For maximum data sovereignty — full self-host using the stoatchat/self-hosted repo (Docker + compose-ready). Deploy on any EU/EFTA cloud you control: Hetzner, OVHcloud, Scaleway, or Infomaniak. Setup time: a few hours for someone comfortable with Docker; the documentation is mature thanks to 5+ years of Revolt/Stoat self-host community.

Privacy & Data Sovereignty

Stoat’s structural advantages:

• Open source under AGPLv3 — every line of the backend, web client, mobile apps, and desktop apps is auditable on GitHub
• Self-hostable — full data sovereignty when you run it on your own EU/EFTA infrastructure
• Europe-based core team — GitHub org metadata lists location as “Europe”
• No US legal exposure when self-hosted on EU infrastructure; the hosted instance also sits outside US jurisdiction
• AGPLv3 protection — ensures the project cannot be quietly forked into a closed-source proprietary service

For communities that include journalists, activists, security researchers, or anyone in politically sensitive contexts, the combination of open source + self-host + EU jurisdiction is materially different from any US-platform alternative.

Migration Guide

Moving a community from Discord to Stoat:

1. Spin up your Stoat server — hosted at stoat.chat OR self-hosted (4-8 hours setup)
2. Recreate channel structure, roles, permissions matching your Discord layout (1-3 hours)
3. Set up essential bots — moderation, welcome flows, role assignment (1-3 hours)
4. Announce the move in Discord with a clear timeline (1-2 weeks notice)
5. Run in parallel for 2-4 weeks — bridge messages between platforms manually or via a bot
6. Move pinned content, knowledge base, channel topics (1-2 hours)
7. Sunset Discord at the end of the parallel period — leave the server up read-only for a few months for redirects

Estimated total time: 1-2 months for a healthy community migration. Difficulty: Moderate — the technical setup is easy; the people-coordination is the hard part.

Real-World Use Cases

An open-source software project moved from Discord to self-hosted Stoat to align with their open-source values. The technical contributors who already self-host other infra (Codeberg, Hetzner) found the setup straightforward; the community manager handled the member-migration coordination over 6 weeks.

A European academic study group uses hosted Stoat for course discussions. The European jurisdiction satisfies their university’s data-handling policy where Discord required additional compensating controls.

A privacy-focused journalism collective uses self-hosted Stoat on Hetzner infrastructure for editorial coordination. Combining Stoat (community + chat) with Threema (1:1 and small-group encrypted messaging) covers their internal communication needs entirely under EU jurisdiction.

Project Background

Stoat is the renamed continuation of Revolt, the open-source Discord-alternative project that began around 2020. The project rebranded to Stoat in September 2025 — the GitHub organisation moved from revoltchat to stoatchat, the codebase carried over intact, and the core team and community continued without disruption.

By mid-2026, Stoat’s primary backend repository has over 3,000 GitHub stars (continuity from the Revolt era), with the self-host distribution repository at over 2,400 stars — indicating substantial community-run server deployments worldwide. Active development continues across Rust backend, web client (TypeScript/Solid), mobile apps (Swift/Kotlin), and desktop wrapper.

The project’s funding model and corporate structure are not publicly detailed. The GitHub org’s location field lists “Europe” without specifying a country. For organisations where vendor-formality matters, self-hosting on your own EU infrastructure is the cleanest path; for typical communities, the hosted instance is operationally fine.

Security & Compliance

• AGPLv3 open-source license
• GDPR-aware design (open-source self-host gives you full GDPR control)
• TLS 1.3 for all client-server connections
• Self-host option for maximum data sovereignty
• EU-aligned project location per GitHub org metadata
• Active security disclosure process via GitHub
• Active issue triage with substantial contributor base

Integration Ecosystem

• Web client: full-featured browser app
• Mobile: native iOS and Android apps
• Desktop: Windows, macOS, Linux
• Self-host: Docker + compose, mature documentation
• Bot API: comprehensive — covers Discord-bot-equivalent surface
• Webhooks: native event-driven integration
• Awesome-Stoat: community-maintained catalog of libraries, bots, and tools
• Bridges: community-maintained Discord ↔ Stoat bridges exist for transitional setups

Who Should Switch?

Stoat is ideal for:

• Open-source projects and communities valuing aligned tooling
• European communities wanting non-US-platform community chat
• Self-hosters wanting full control over their community infrastructure
• Privacy-conscious groups preferring open-source + EU hosting
• Educational communities in European institutions with strict data-handling policies
• Anyone running Discord servers that don’t depend on Discord-specific features

The Bottom Line

Discord remains the right choice for very large communities, gaming groups deep in the Discord ecosystem, and anyone whose audience is already there at scale. For European communities, open-source projects, and privacy-aware groups willing to coordinate a migration, Stoat is the better choice: AGPLv3 open source, Europe-based core team, self-hostable for full sovereignty, and 5+ years of Revolt/Stoat continuity proving the project’s durability.

For the specific question “is Stoat ready to replace Discord for a normal community?” the answer in 2026 is yes — feature coverage is solid, the apps are polished, the self-host community is mature, and the rebrand has stabilised. The bigger question is community coordination: are your members willing to move? If yes, Stoat delivers structurally cleaner infrastructure than any US-platform alternative.

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Looking for more European messaging and community alternatives? See also: Element vs Slack and Threema vs WhatsApp.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the Revolt → Stoat rebrand about?

The project — well-known as Revolt since around 2020 — formally relaunched under the Stoat name in September 2025. The codebase, community, and core team carried over (the GitHub org just changed from 'revoltchat' to 'stoatchat'). For users, it's the same open-source Discord-alternative project; for procurement, it's the same trust signal — a multi-year open-source project with a substantial contributor base.

Is Stoat really open source?

Yes, under AGPLv3. The full backend (Rust), web client, mobile apps (iOS + Android), and desktop apps (Windows + macOS + Linux) are all open source on GitHub at github.com/stoatchat. You can audit every line, contribute, fork, or self-host. The AGPL ensures that anyone running Stoat as a service must make their modifications available — protecting the project from closed-source forks.

Where is Stoat hosted?

The Stoat.chat hosted instance is operated by the core team. The GitHub org's public location is 'Europe' without specifying a country. For maximum data sovereignty, the self-host route (github.com/stoatchat/self-hosted) lets you run Stoat on your own infrastructure — Hetzner, OVHcloud, Scaleway, Infomaniak, or any EU/EFTA host you control.

How does Stoat compare to Element / Matrix?

Both are credible open-source community-chat alternatives, but with different design philosophies. Element/Matrix is a federated protocol (different servers can interoperate, similar to email or XMPP) with strong E2E encryption. Stoat is centralised-by-server (like Discord) — each Stoat server is independent, no cross-server federation. For Discord-like community vibes (gaming, hobby communities, classrooms), Stoat feels more familiar. For privacy-first organisations needing E2E encryption and federation, Element/Matrix often wins. Both are EU-friendly choices.

Can I migrate from Discord?

Yes, with some manual work. There's no automated migration tool, but the process is similar to any community move: 1) Spin up your Stoat server (hosted or self-host), 2) Configure channels, roles, permissions to match your Discord setup, 3) Invite community members during a coordination window, 4) Run both platforms in parallel for 2-4 weeks while members migrate, 5) Wind down Discord. For larger communities, plan for a community manager to drive the move.