TeamSpeek or Mumble.
Both have excellent voice chat.
this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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Teamspeak still requires a license above a small user size, but has multiple clients that can accomodate different target audicences. The TS3 client still looks like it did back in the windows 7 days and the TS5 client is just copying discords homework (Not a clue what happend to 4 and I believe 6 is under development). Both use the same server backend and database structure so both work with one server and different user expirences.
Mumble is still the gold standard for handling large user bases (there is a reason big EvE Online alliances use mumble). It will take longer to set up, the configuration is handled by the server, not through authorized user accounts like TS.
Would Matrix be a good option? I think they have voice chat. There's a bunch of clients that you can pick from (Element, FluffyChat, etc) that seem pretty good
IRC, RocketChat, Slack. Technically Matrix, but for your usecase I wouldn't recommend it, as it's a bit heavy, and if you're just planning on using it with other people on the same server there's not a point.
EDIT: Just noticed the voice chat thing. I've used Jitsi for that, and it works well. Also self-hostable
Jitsi is great as a Skype/Zoom replacement. It's not a 'room' on a server, but voice and video chats are stable and fast.
Yeah, depending on what it's used for it can do well. If it's for scheduled calls, like with a weekly tabletop game, it can definitely work well. If it's for the more casual pop in/out that happens on a lot of Discords it's worse. I just don't know of a replacement for that aside Matrix
Not a bad recommendation, but I disagree.
Rocket chat is just as heavy (in fact, it federates to Matrix), uses MongoDB, and has steadily pulled features behind a paywall for years. To me, if I'm hosting the service on my own machines and I'm not using their live support, the idea of paying for the privilege of using it is absurd.
Matrix has come a long way, including integrated voice and video chats.
Fair, yeah. I didn't realize Rocket had gotten heavy. I hadn't used it in years, just remembered it being okay when I had. I've switched to XMPP for the same things I was using RC for, admittedly, it's just... More like a traditional texting app than emulating Discord's IRC-like experience
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For 7 people you could look into Virola Messenger. Not open source but uses Mumble under the hood and is super lightweight. No electron shit.
XMPP aka Jabber.
Yeah, we're using Conversations and it's fine for most things.
Will be self hosting prosidy "sooon"... and it'll all be in-house.
Good luck! Report results.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| PIA | Private Internet Access brand of VPN |
| SSH | Secure Shell for remote terminal access |
| VPN | Virtual Private Network |
| XMPP | Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol ('Jabber') for open instant messaging |
4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 13 acronyms.
[Thread #79 for this comm, first seen 9th Feb 2026, 22:30] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
I would take a look at TeamSpeak or Matrix.
Of the two Matrix is probably the closest to Discord.
Good old Teamspeak 3 or 6