ELEMENT VS STOAT
They differ on 3 of the things we checked: iphone, threads, custom emoji.
| Fact | ELEMENT | STOAT |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Stable | Stable |
| Founded | 2017 | 2021 |
| Hosting | Cloud or self-host, Federated | Cloud or self-host |
| Encryption | TLS in transit; private rooms and DMs are end-to-end encrypted by default, public rooms are not. | TLS in transit only. The host can read messages. |
| Pricing | Apps and matrix.org accounts free; Element Server Suite Community free to self-host; Enterprise priced per seat and Sovereign per deployment (quote only) | Free; no paid tier (custom emoji, animated avatars, 20 MB uploads all free) |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Official cloud service | Yes | Yes |
| You can host it yourself | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone | Yes | No |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| In a browser | Yes | Yes |
| Text channels | Yes | Yes |
| Voice channels | Yes | Yes |
| Video calls | Yes | Yes |
| Screen share | Yes | Yes |
| Threads | Yes | No |
| Roles and permissions | Yes | Yes |
| Bots or an API | Yes | Yes |
| Custom emoji | No | Yes |
| One account, many communities | Yes | Yes |
| Export your data | Yes | Not confirmed |
| No ads | Yes | Yes |
| Members pay nothing | Yes | Yes |
| Imports a Discord server | No | No |
| Bridges with Discord | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
In short
Element. The mature, decentralised option: pick any homeserver (or run Synapse yourself), E2EE is on by default for private rooms and DMs but off for public rooms, and threads, power-level roles, bots, chat export and Element Call screen sharing all exist. Expect a Slack-like rather than Discord-like UX (Spaces instead of servers, no custom emoji), a learning curve around device verification and key backup, and no Discord importer (only bridges such as matrix-appservice-discord). Element the company monetises hosting and enterprise, so the consumer apps stay free.
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.