Discord's age checks, and where people are going
On September 22, 2026 Discord sorted every account into Adult, Teen or Unconfirmed. It says it estimates age from account signals such as account age, the servers and games an account is connected to, and activity, and that it does not read messages or calls. Discord says more than 90% of users won't be asked to confirm.
Accounts marked Unconfirmed lose adult-only content and settings until they confirm. The ways to confirm include a credit card, app store age range sharing, Google Wallet, an on-device video selfie, or an ID scan with a selfie, depending on region and device.
| Destination | Open source | Hosting | Encryption | Voice | Video | Threads | Members pay | Runs on | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DISCORDleaving | No | Cloud only | TLS + E2EE voice | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free | PCMACLINUXIPHONEANDROIDWEB | STABLE |
| ARMADA | Yes | Cloud or self-hostDecentralized | E2EE everything | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free | PCMACLINUXIPHONEANDROIDWEB | BETA |
| ELEMENT | Yes | Cloud or self-hostFederated | TLS + E2EE private rooms | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free | PCMACLINUXIPHONEANDROIDWEB | STABLE |
| FLUXER | Yes | Cloud or self-host | TLS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free | PCMACLINUXIPHONEANDROIDWEB | STABLE |
| PROBEDmine | No | Cloud only | TLS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free | PCMACLINUXIPHONEANDROIDWEB | STABLE |
| STOAT | Yes | Cloud or self-host | TLS | Yes | Yes | No | Free | PCMACLINUXIPHONEANDROIDWEB | STABLE |
I build Probed, one of the destinations here. It is on the board with the same facts as the rest, including the ones that count against it. If anything here is wrong, say so on r/LeavingDiscord and it gets fixed.
How it got here
In October 2025 a breach at a third-party support vendor exposed government ID photos that about 70,000 users had sent Discord for age appeals.
In February 2026 Discord announced a global age-verification plan, met heavy backlash, apologised and delayed it. The September 2026 age groups are the version that shipped.
If this is why you're leaving
Look at two columns. Hosting tells you who could be told to add checks like this later: a self-hosted server answers to you. Encryption tells you who can read what your members say.
Sources
- Discord: Safer for teens, same Discord for adults (Sep 22, 2026)
- TechCrunch: Discord delays global rollout of age verification (Feb 24, 2026)
- SecurityWeek: Discord says 70,000 users had IDs exposed
More ways to narrow it down
- Open source Discord alternatives
- Self-hosted Discord alternatives
- Encrypted Discord alternatives
- How to move a Discord server
- Discord alternatives for businesses
Something wrong? Tell r/LeavingDiscord.