Threaded Chat (Community) app alternatives

Alternatives to: Slack, Discord, Teams, Google Chat

Signal is great for private group chats, but for some group chats you really need to be able to have threads (or topics) within the chat. Avoid the big tech surveillance with these privacy-friendly alts:

App name	Open Source	Structure; Business model	Features	Country of origin	Link
Zulip	Yes	Private company (Kandra Labs Inc); Freemium	Topics within Channels; N.B. no E2EE!	USA	Zulip.com
Element	Yes	Private company; Free if self-hosted, paid for business	Matrix-based; Chat in 'rooms' (like topics/channels); E2EE	UK	Element.io
Discourse	Yes	Private company; Paid hosted plans	Host a community forum for your business or community; Discussion topics tagged by category	USA registered company, but open source	Discourse.org
Mattermost	No	Private company; Free if self-hosted, paid for enterprise	Aimed at organisations that need high levels of security and privacy; no E2EE but can self-host	USA	Mattermost.com
RocketChat	Yes	Private company; Free if self-hosted, paid hosted plans	Aimed at organisations that need high levels of security and privacy; E2EE	USA	Rocket.chat
Stoat	Yes	Private company; Free (open source)	Discord alternative; No E2EE but open source code and promise to not sell your data; Similar layout to Discord	UK	Stoat.chat
Fluxer	Yes	Free Open Source; Free (with premium tier)	Discord alternative; No E2EE but open source code and promise to not sell your data; Similar layout to Discord	Sweden	Fluxer.app
GameVox	Yes	Private company; Free if self-hosted, Free hosted tier plus paid plans	Discord alternative; Not E2EE but privacy policy says they don't scan chats or calls; Can self-host	USA	GameVox.com

RTA's choice

We use Zulip.

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