this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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Pretty much what it says on the tin, but for more context. My friends and I use Discord to play D&D and other TTRPGs. We also use it to send memes and just have conversations. We mostly do the chat, text, images, gifs, etc. But we also use the voice and video chat pretty regularly too. Screen share sometimes as well. So I'd like to try to find something that has all those features if possible.

The new ID or facial recognition requirement they are implementing is a deal breaker for a few of us, and so if I can set up some kind of alternative to make it a non-issue, I'd like to.

I'm running Ubunutu 22.04 LETS, AMD 3700X, 64GBRAM, 10x 6TB HDD, and and 2 4TB NVmE. Have a 2gb up/down internet connection. So I don't think we should have any issues making it work smoothly for 7 people.

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[–] quaff@lemmy.ca 32 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (5 children)

Check out https://stoat.chat/, it's the closest self hostable group communications platform to Discord.

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 22 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

Just a fair warning in reply to this that the self-hosted version of Stoat doesn't currently have voice chat. It's an open issue that's currently paused until they can finish their rework.

If you have the skill for it, it seems like you can patch work the existing voice chat back in, but it's not part of their initial setup and there's no instructions on how to do so properly

[–] verdigris@lemmy.ml 12 points 14 hours ago

Well that seems like a fairly big deal.

[–] quaff@lemmy.ca 13 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Link to their voice chat implementatoon.

Looks like you can enable it on self hosted version. Probably worth someone trying it out personally. Before giving up on stoat.

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 5 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

sadly, it's a little more complex than just enabling it. The supported self host deployment uses docker, and the docker containers that are available don't contain the interfaces for voice or video calling as they are not up to date.

If I understand it right, to enable it would mean you need to either pull the source yourself and run it off of docker, or make a custom docker image using a version of stoat web that contains the ability to do voice calls.

reading the draft of the linked issue, it looks like the author isn't doing voice call for the reason that they don't know the proper way to integrate it into the docker image.

So to answer it: yes it looks like you can use voice servers on the current self hosted model, but you can't use pre-existing docker images, and it will require you to manually add the new web UI in and patch where needed.

[–] quaff@lemmy.ca 2 points 9 hours ago

Turns out they also don't support federation or e2ee. If those are things you care about.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 12 hours ago

Is there a docker-free build you can either install and mod to re-enable voice, or use to mod the docker blobs in accordance ?

[–] hushable@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

I've been using it since it was called Revolt and quite like it, albeit I've never used the voice feature. My group doesn't really have the need for it, but I can see it being a deal breaker for the self-hosted version.

[–] hesh@quokk.au 18 points 15 hours ago (8 children)

Honestly the name choice adds difficulty in getting friends to take it seriously. Why did they pick "stoat"

[–] Tetsuo@jlai.lu 31 points 15 hours ago

Nowadays everyone accepted the name "Discord" but I think it's a pretty poor choice of branding too.

A communication app called Discord is pretty weird too.

A stoat is a pretty cool animal.

I think without prior knowledge of any voice chat Discord would probably rate worse in perception than Stoat.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 15 points 14 hours ago (4 children)

you mean unlike the tools discord has replaced, such as "mumble", "ventrilo", "roger wilco" and "trillian"?

[–] autonomoususer@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Mumble is a verb like chat but what the fuck has a stoat got anything to do chatting?

[–] lime@feddit.nu 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] autonomoususer@lemmy.world -4 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Do them yourself and you want to copy all those failed apps, lmao.

[–] gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Mumble is great and I still use it. None of those are failed apps.

Not every app seeks to rake in teenagers' parents' money with shit like premium emojis.

[–] autonomoususer@lemmy.world 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

So, where are all the posts saying, 'self-hosted ventrilo?'

[–] gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Not all software needs to be around forever. Things can become obsolete without "failing".

[–] autonomoususer@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Good luck beating Discord by copying the worse parts of obsolete apps.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Discord never replaced mumble. The two are in different circles.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 11 hours ago

for some, yeah. depends on your use case.

[–] hesh@quokk.au -1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] lime@feddit.nu 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

soundn like a problem with your friends then. who doesn't love a stoat?

[–] hesh@quokk.au 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I know, it's picky lol. I'm still considering it as the replacement for my discord groups (also checking out Element/Matrix). The average users aren't going to be up for swapping around a lot of platforms, so I am hoping to make one big push on the platform of choice. "Revolt" would have gotten less "wtf is that, how do you even spell it?" than "Stoat"

[–] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 14 hours ago

for what it's worth matrix has worked well for us. it's apparently a bitch to set up though.

[–] quaff@lemmy.ca 16 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

No clue! It was revolt before. I think they had trademark issues with that name. What's wrong with stoat?

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 1 points 2 hours ago

Personally, I associate stoats with Dwarf Fortress. And much butchering thereof.

[–] ttyybb@lemmy.world 8 points 15 hours ago

I was wondering why I want getting any updates, checked thegithub a few months ago and found out they rebranded. Haven't had a chance to try the latest version out yet

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 2 points 10 hours ago

seems like they had a decent name 'revolt' but got some cease and desist and didn't resist and decided to switch.

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 12 hours ago

This whole "FOSS names are bad" sounds like a Mccarthyism sysop by this point. Like, really, who is pushing that crap?

[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 hours ago

The name doesnt matter

IRC is a stupid name too, unless you know what the letters stand for

Msn messenger was stupid

Icq was stupid

Wtf even is “skype”?

It just has to be unique

And a Stout is kinda cute

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

Stoats are awesome.

[–] hzl@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 13 hours ago

What do you meeaaan? Stoats are fucking adorable!

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 1 points 10 hours ago

has anyone tried their iOS client? from their description it seems like it's less mature than the android version, kinda concerning as my friend group has some iphone users.

[–] Mihies@programming.dev 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Is there a significant benefit over matrix?

[–] quaff@lemmy.ca 1 points 9 hours ago

From what I can tell, the only benefit is that the platform is close to the Discord experience. So people migrating to Stoat would feel right at home.

But there's no federation, no e2ee, apparently it's difficult to get voice setup if you self host...

Matrix has it's issues too. Goup chat e2ee is not good. No one uses it. But at least they've got federation.

https://continuwuity.org/ seems like a decent server to run if you want to run a matrix server.

[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Where is the documentation for self-hosting it?

[–] quaff@lemmy.ca 3 points 14 hours ago

Check their GitHub. Although it looks like GitHub is having issues right now.