It's decentralized but still has central servers that can be overwhelmed?

It's decentralized but still has central servers that can be overwhelmed?

Yes, the self hosted servers register with a centralized server to check for a license and to optionally list that server in the centralized list of public servers. Teamspeak can be hosted for free but has client restrictions that can be overcome with a license.

On a related note, Mumble self hosted servers can also register with a centralized server if the server owner wishes to have it listed for public use. This is optional as the server owner can also just advertise the connection details on a website and/or in Discord. Mumble [1] has no concept of a license to operate however. There is a light-weight version of the Mumble server called uMurmur that can run on a Linux router or RasPi but the channel configuration is statically defined ahead of time on uMurmur. The full blown version is just called Murmur and by default uses sqlite but it can also use a database like MySQL or MariaDB for storing persistent data like user registrations, channels, bans, and server configuration. .

https://www.mumble.info/

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giancarlostoro 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Mumble would be my bigger recommendation for a truly open source Discord alternative, though I'm personally more invested in XMPP as an alternative.

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foresto 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Mumble is fantastic for voice chat. Its text features are very basic, though, so people fleeing Discord would probably want something additional to handle that. Maybe Matrix.

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ecshafer 4 hours ago | parent [-]

A single location is a good selling point. Being able to jump into a voice chat, and still post things in a shared text chat is a good feature. Mumble should work a bit on that.

	▲	foresto 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Mumble should work a bit on that. Mumble is a labor of love, not a commercial product. I expect they would appreciate your help.

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mmooss 39 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

> self hosted servers register with a centralized server to check for a license and to optionally list that server in the centralized list of public servers

I doubt license authorization and an entry in a list are overwhelming their servers.

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progval 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's decentralized because you can run a server yourself, but they also offer hosting services.