2024-10-22T00:00:00 - written by page.author

started on: 2024-10-20 00:00

This page will attempt to consolidate and explain the similarities and differences between each platform/protocol and implementations of features. Technically, XMPP is a protocol, whereas Discord is a client, so I should've written "XMPP vs whatever protocol(s) Discord uses." Disclaimer: there are some things that I do not know. I am using Cheogram, which has more support for these kinds of things than some other clients.

| Discord | XMPP/Jabber | Notes | |---------+---------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Server | N/A | This is probably the biggest difference to explain. In Discord, a server is a collection of voice/text channels. In XMPP, a server hosts accounts and chats. There is no "grouping" in XMPP to group channels to replicate a Discord server, like Matrix "spaces" feature. | | Channel | MUC/multi user chat | See notes on Server. | | DM/PM | DM/PM | Pretty much the same | | | | |

| Replies | Yes | See Threads. | | Threads | Yes | Cheogram feature, marks the chat bubbles with an icon. Does not "pull" the messages into a separate area. | | Forums | No | Not really a thing. | | Polls | Yes | Various games and a poll creator available through WebXDC (see Cheogram) | | Announcment channels | Somewhat | One can make a channel on their server that users are automatically joined to, where they can recieve announcements about server downtime or other notices from the server operators. | | | | |

New experimental fancy stuff | Discord | XMPP/Jabber | Notes | |--------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Video channels/built-in voice chat and streaming | Implementations vary. | There is no equivalent to the screensharing+VC built in to XMPP. One needs to use software such as Jitsi or Mumble. You can do calls, but I think that's different. | | Stickers | Stickers | One can use custom stickers without "Nitro" (Discord's premium tier) | | Emoji reactions | Reactions | In XMPP, one can now use custom emoji (animated or static) and apply them to a message | | View reactions (ie "Alice reacted with a heart emoji") | Yes | | | | | |

| Encrypted messages | Yes (OMEMO, PGP) | | | | | |

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