Stoat

Stoat (formerly Revolt) is a group chat app built for friends and communities who want the features of mainstream platforms without the surveillance business model behind them. It's a direct Discord alternative that covers the basics well: servers, channels, voice chat, file sharing, and markdown support, all without ads or data collection.

Built in Europe under EU data protection law, the codebase is public and the privacy policy is short enough to actually read. There's no investor pressure shaping product decisions, which means features exist because users want them, not because they serve an ad-targeting pipeline.

A few things stand out from the typical chat app:

• Custom emojis and animated avatars are free, with no subscription tier required
• Group DMs support up to 50 members and work with bots, making them useful for project collaboration or ad-hoc voice groups
• Role-based permissions and moderation tools handle communities of any size, from a handful of friends to thousands of members
• Theming ships with built-in options, community themes via a Discover section, and custom CSS for those who want full control
• Cross-platform sync covers Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and the web
• Self-hosting is supported if you want full control over your own instance
• A public API powers the official apps themselves, so third-party bots and custom clients are first-class citizens

Compared to tools like Rocket.Chat or Twake Chat, Stoat leans toward the consumer end: it's designed to feel familiar to anyone coming from mainstream chat apps, with a lighter footprint and fewer enterprise-focused features. The 20MB file upload limit and server-specific profile pictures are available without paying, which removes friction that similar platforms put behind paywalls.

The issue tracker is public and the team runs a community server, so feedback has a direct path to the people building it.