Side by side

ARMADA VS STOAT

They differ on 2 of the things we checked: threads, imports a discord server.

FactARMADASTOAT
StatusBetaStable
Founded20262021
HostingCloud or self-host, DecentralizedCloud or self-host
EncryptionEvery message and call is end-to-end encrypted.TLS in transit only. The host can read messages.
PricingFree; no paid tier or ads; Soapbox is funded by grants and donationsFree; no paid tier (custom emoji, animated avatars, 20 MB uploads all free)
Open sourceYesYes
Official cloud serviceYesYes
You can host it yourselfYesYes
WindowsYesYes
macOSNot confirmedYes
LinuxYesYes
iPhoneNoNo
AndroidYesYes
In a browserYesYes
Text channelsYesYes
Voice channelsYesYes
Video callsYesYes
Screen shareYesYes
ThreadsYesNo
Roles and permissionsYesYes
Bots or an APIYesYes
Custom emojiYesYes
One account, many communitiesYesYes
Export your dataNot confirmedNot confirmed
No adsYesYes
Members pay nothingYesYes
Imports a Discord serverYesNo
Bridges with DiscordYesNot confirmed

In short

Armada. Open beta ahead of v1.0 with near-daily 0.x releases; the repo was created in June 2026. Discord import uses a bridge bot and brings channels, up to 99 roles, custom emoji and up to 10,000 messages per channel (servers of 100 members or fewer), with live bridging; members must re-join via invite and bridged channels are not E2EE. Community messages and DMs are E2EE (relays see ciphertext); voice runs over self-hostable LiveKit with client-side encryption. Release assets cover Windows, Linux and Android; macOS is claimed in the README but no macOS build was found in releases, and iOS is web-only with a native app in progress.

Stoat. Closest like-for-like Discord replacement that is fully free: servers, channels, roles, bots, custom emoji, and (since July 2026) video and screen share on desktop, web and Android. No threads, no E2EE, and no native iOS app on the App Store (iOS is a PWA via Safari 'Add to Home Screen'; a TestFlight build exists). No official Discord importer; the third-party DiscoReaper tool targets Stoat and Fluxer. Self-hosting is documented but voice on self-hosted instances has lagged the main instance.

Something wrong here? Tell r/LeavingDiscord.

I build Probed, one of the destinations here. It gets the same facts as the rest.