What is the best voice chat for gaming?

Question

41

Options
Considered

3.4K

User
Recs.

Nov 9, 2023

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 10 OptionsWhy?

Best voice chat for gaming	Price	End-to-end encryption	Audio recording
93 Mumble	Free	Yes	Yes
85 Discord	Free	-	no
82 Element (formerly Riot)	Free	Yes (optional)	Yes
67 Steam Chat	Free	-	-
67 TeamSpeak 3	Free	yes (not by default)	-

See Full List

9 Other Options Considered

Discord

Top Pro

Can be used in browser

Users can invite others to join a Discord channel via a web link, which means no installation is required to use the software - which is one of the big typical barriers to entry for social software. See More

Top Con

No dedicated servers

You are sharing server bandwidth with every other discord user. Meaning if you are using discord and need voice coms for say example your guild is raiding something, and every other discord user on the planet decides to log on YOUR guilds raid is going to suffer because you don't have dedicated bandwith discords overall performance will suffer immensely. See More

MemorableSpentaArmaiti's Experience

You have to pay money to use animated emojis, join new servers after your server limit, quality voice, profile themes, etc, etc, which are all free on Guilded. See More

Specs

Platforms:Web, Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

Audio recording:no

Screensharing:yes

Videoconferencing:Yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

Targeting of roles

Targeting roles allows for quickly requesting someone from a group e.g. artist, moderator, etc. See More

Top Con

Servers only in select regions

Servers are currently only available in the US, UK, Germany, Singapore, Brazil, Netherlands, Australia, Hong Kong, etc. This can mean poor latency for users located elsewhere. Although server region range has since been boardened, the choice is still very limited. See More

kaydence.smith's Experience

i have been on discord and its pretty good i would say bc it does let you talk and its good See More

Top Pro

Supports mobile clients

Discord has a fully-featured mobile client with push notification support for Android and iOS, which makes it very easy to check in on the app and communicate while out and about. See More

Top Con

Anti-privacy license terms

Henrik's Experience

Pleasant to use and I like the mix of chat servers, voice chat (for anything, not just gaming), and the overall experience. See More

Top Pro

Free, infinite servers

You can create as many servers as you want, up to the server limit in the client. Creating servers takes less than 10 seconds. See More

Top Con

It is closed source software

Even though it is made from open source technologies, cannot view the source code, unlike certain alternatives (Mumble). See More

stalliondrift's Experience

Generally the best voice chat program for Windows AND Linux. The best part is that server creation is 100% free and unlimited - no fees asked, no limits as to what you can set in your server. See More

Top Pro

Dark theme out of the box

Top Con

Based on Electron = eats a lot of ram

Capuccino 's Experience

Discord is literally the dreams of every gamer/community manager - it has to be easy, it has to be usable everywhere, it has to be good in voice chat performance, and it has to be clean and modern. Holstering more than 1M users, at least 10 or more Open Source Communities, ranging from Fedora, XFCE, OpenSUSE, Vue.js, Discord is the 21st century's answer to a IRC alternative. See More

Top Pro

Easy setup

You can quickly send invites to people and they can join in using the web client without having to create an account or install the app. See More

Top Con

No self-hosting avaliable

Discord is wholly hosted by Discord (the company), you cannot run private instances, and all servers are hosted on their infrastructure. For most people, this won't really impact their usage. See More

Lewis Crichton's Experience

Discord is one of the best chat platforms since Skype. Actually, I take that back. Skype sucks. See More

Top Pro

User friendly

Discord follows the same type of interface design popularised by Slack, which is extremely clean and attractive, and doesn't clutter the interface with unnecessary chrome and cruft. See More

Top Con

Developer's previous company was sued for privacy violations, among other things

See this link and this link. Discord's privacy policy also states that while they might not sell your data, a company they get sold to will quite possibly attain said data and thus may be in "more" shady hands. See More

Orion's Experience

Great for text/speech chatting as well as doing group conversations. Acts not only as a chating room but, also as a common area to hang out. See More

Top Pro

Good 1-click invite system

Discord allows inviting people to a specific channel with a link. Links can be set to expire. See More

Top Con

Proprietary software

Discord is closed-source, meaning their code isn't available for inspection or reproduction See More

Vaibhav Barthwal's Experience

I am also a discord user it is very easy to setup.Not for gaming but you can also use in other like i am in a hacking server name netsecstudents you can also join for other stuff.sorry for my english. See More

Top Pro

Accessible to anyone

Discord is free to use, with a subscription plan that gives additional benefits such as animated avatars, the ability to use custom emojis across all servers, and an increased file upload limit. See More

Top Con

It sometimes drops voice and sound

A restart is required to fix. See More

CleverDanand's Experience

Works well & interface if you pay attn to instructions you can make your way. 1000 % Cool meter. See More

Top Pro

In-game overlay

See who's talking, adjust voice controls; all without leaving the game. See More

Top Con

Voice delay

Once you speak into your mic, there is a short delay and then you and your friends hear your voice again. See More

tion love's Experience

becuse i love this a love a lot so if i need help i can ask See More

Top Pro

Not a generic "team chat" tool

All the UI and the features are aimed specifically at communicating with your gaming team/clan. See More

Top Con

Spying

Discord logs every application running on your computer and sends it to their server. It even logs all your messages and analyzes them. Discord also has a close relationship with the Chinese government. See More

Aurelius's Experience

Discord has changed the chat/voice landscape permanently. It has completely displaced TeamSpeak, Mumble, and Skype for gamers, and it's slowly taking over the rest of the market as well. What's not to like? Fast, snappy performance, slick interface, easy to use and manage, lots of configurability, bot and API support, webhooks, and it's completely free with no ads! I can't imagine why anyone would use anything else, unless you have a very specific use case that Discord doesn't cover. See More

Top Pro

Simple & appealing UI

The interface is very easy to follow - you have three sections. On the left are the channels for your server, which you can quickly and easily switch between. The large section in the middle is the main chat area, where each message has the person's username, avatar (or image), and timestamp. On the right is a list of all the people in the chat, where it also ways what games each person is playing (if applicable and set up by the user). See More

Top Con

Permission system is very basic

There is such a thing as being too basic. They claim it's easy to manage permissions, but many people find it to be very vague and elementary. No community or server owner could be flexible in this system. See More

tecla04's Experience

i would like this to be slime how to make slime if any of you give me qichens for slime your willcome to See More

Top Pro

Game integration

Discord shows which game each user is currently playing, which among other things helps users to form PUGs with minimal hassle. See More

Top Con

No plugin system

Discord does not have a plugin system. For people who want to adjust a software to all their needs, something like TeamSpeak should be more up their alley. See More

ThriftyScamander's Experience

GARBAGE AUDIO QUALITY. The one thing a VOIP should do well, it is garbage at. The irony. See More

Top Pro

Most of the features included in a free version

Top Con

Limited file transfers

With the free version of Discord, you can only upload files up to 8 MBytes. Getting Discord Nitro for $4.99 a month allows you to share files up to 50 MBytes. See More

ChattyKuebiko's Experience

i think its cool because you can see people in real life and know who they are See More

Top Pro

Ability to thread channels

Ability to create channel categories for channels to sit inside of. See More

Top Con

Very unstable on Linux

IntellectualAuxesia's Experience

cant be used in mobile without app. browser support in desktop only See More

Top Pro

High adoption rate

Vast and growing ecosystem of users. See More

Top Con

Connection issues are severe

Many people have serious connection issues with Discord at one time or another, which occasionally requires a complete system reset or software reinstallation. See More

ShrewdKubaba's Experience

There are a lot of pedos on the site and the servers are always down See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Discord has native desktop apps for Windows, OSX and Linux, and mobile (Android, iOS) platforms and it's also accessible from the web. See More

Top Con

No positional audio

Positional audio means that different players/users sound like coming from different positions, sometimes even related to their actual position in the game. This helps especially for voice chats with more than two people. See More

CulturedPerkunas's Experience

is good 👌 See More

Top Pro

Supports video and text communication

Behaves and looks like Slack for regular text channels, but with the ability to create voice channels as well. See More

Top Con

Some functions cut out and available only with "Nitro" subscription

IndustriousBeChuille's Experience

epic See More

Top Pro

Can be very simple, but also very complex

If you're just looking to chat with friends, then it's super easy and simple to use, but if you want to run a server with 500 people, then that can be a little more time consuming(while still easy to learn). See More

Top Con

Push-to-talk only works in Desktop Client

If you favor using Discord in browser, push-to-talk is only available when the window is front and centre. Push-to-talk is great because it prevents accidental sounds that can be distracting to other chatters. See More

PositiveAchilles's Experience

hassaan327@yahoo.com See More

Top Pro

Language localization

Have localization for many language, including Russian. See More

Top Con

Can change "Now Playing" status to something inappropriate

nomoiman's Experience

Looks great and has great features. See More

Top Pro

User feedback

Users can subumit suggestions for the software. See More

Top Con

Age-restricted

It bans you if you are 12 or younger. See More

ComposedFebruus's Experience

I need to chat with someone to become friends See More

Top Pro

Open source bots and management tools

You can use bots to control your server like welcome message, banned words, when your Twitch account goes online and many others. The bot API is open and there are dedicated sites for finding bots. See More

Top Con

The area displaying the channel tree is too small and makes it hard to see where people are and who's talking

CourteousHorme's Experience

Cool, And Fast. See More

Top Pro

Excellent voice quality

Discord uses the Opus codec, specifically developed for low latency VoIP chat. See More

Top Con

Does not work on older versions of Windows

If you're using Windows Vista or XP, Discord will not work on your system. According to one Vista user, Discord is confirmed to have text chat functionality, but voice servers do not function at all. They will not hear you, and you will not hear them. It's a shame they can't make it available on a wider variety of browsers and OS's. See More

MightyMerope's Experience

good in english See More

Top Pro

Numerous controls for setting member roles

Deny access, Deny write message, Allow read messages etc. See More

Top Con

Focused on streamers and not communities

Discord focuses on streamers and not the communities, many implementations over the last year have been geared towards streamers and future updates they promise continue to be geared towards streamers. See More

kurbis's Experience

Really amazing browser and native experience. It's designed and performs really well on all devices. See More

Top Pro

Does not allow NSFW related things to be posted unless in a NSFW channel

Top Con

It does not save individual account preferences

This means that if you share your computer with a number of users(brothers), the notification settings(for example), will be the same for everyone, regardless of their account. See More

Yacine Rahmouni's Experience

anything See More

Top Pro

Android app has push notifications

Top Con

Privacy concerns

There are some privacy concerns one may raise when looking at their Privacy Policy. From Discord’s privacy policy: We collect information from you when you voluntarily provide such information, such as when you register for access to the Services or use certain Services. Information we collect may include but not be limited to username, email address, and any messages, images, transient VOIP data (to enable communication delivery only) or other content you send via the chat feature. Data We Collect Automatically: When you interact with us through the Services, we receive and store certain information such as an IP address, device ID, and your activities within the Services. We may store such information or such information may be included in databases owned and maintained by affiliates, agents or service providers. See More

IntelligentSet's Experience

ilike it weasy to use when talk pr osmething See More

Top Pro

Syntax highlighting and Markdown support

The support is limited but still exists. It's a killer feature for dev teams. See More

Top Con

Financial scam

The owner and CEO of Discord Jason Citron has secured nearly 20 million in investment funds for Discord. Discord is something that is free it is not a money making machine. Currently the only way Discord is staying afloat is by continually securing new investor funds. Jason Citrons track record shows a pattern of starting a business attracting large investors then walking away with the company bankrupt or sold and his pockets filled. 20 million dollars would have produced a product light-years better than discord, something fishy is going on. See More

DiplomaticFascinus's Experience

SUCK MY DICK MOTHER FUCKERS!!!!!!! See More

Top Pro

Friendly payment policy

Free account have no tangible restrictions. Premium account is just a way to say "thank you" to developers. And it work for all servers of discord (not as in slack). And it can be purchased by one who wants. In contrast to Slask, where all active members of the server should be "premium". See More

ImmaculateKuaFu's Experience

harry See More

Top Pro

Has low-latency VoIP support

PersistentPeitho's Experience

its good See More

Top Pro

Resource light

The desktop client isn't very demanding on system resources (like RAM), making it lightweight and ideal to have running alongside any game. See More

JoyfulIsis's Experience

Its good See More

Top Pro

DDoS user protection

Discord doesn't expose user's IP addresses to other users or community owners/admins, meaning they can't be harvested to be DDoSed. See More

PatientCliodhna's Experience

LAG free experience while playing on a low end pc too See More

SpontaneousTenjin's Experience

i love to talk in games with each other but it doesn't work for me i tried so much time sign up and login but still not working See More

HarmoniousFlins's Experience

lots of friendly people, and the discord staff seem pretty cool too See More

Braiden Snyder's Experience

Amaze See More

HappyNinsun's Experience

Extremely bad for privacy, horrendous community. Would not recommend this app to anyone. See More

SuccessfulGbadu's Experience

fun See More

Adam Jimenez's Experience

poke See More

IndependentThetis's Experience

is cool See More

DiplomaticOsiris's Experience

Peek perfection See More

SmartHarpocrates's Experience

good See More

FlexibleAngitia's Experience

The racism in voice chat is terrible and they do nothing about it. They say they can only do if its written in chat which is strange because they are a voice chat service See More

Andro Somar's Experience

I use this Software while playing Pubg , it is amazing , no delay at voice See More

vlnux's Experience

Runs bad in the browser and spies on you. See More

GloriousMelpomene's Experience

nothing See More

ReceptiveBarnumbirr's Experience

Super See More

DynamicCastor's Experience

i recommend this cause its cool and helpful for gamer + STOP USING LIGHT MODE GOD DA**IT See More

IncredibleSarutahikoOkami's Experience

Hands down the best out there! Love it! See More

EnchantingTheandrios's Experience

Better experience compared to Teamspeak and Mumble. See More

WittyMastorpaz's Experience

lhoucine See More

VivaciousEnten's Experience

Voice chat does not allow for non-basic setups such as cross channel communication/monitoring. See More

DignifiedFebris's Experience

Great See More

LoveableBunbulama's Experience

i got banned for being 12 See More

MerryVoipel's Experience

Discord can be used anywhere at anytime on Pc, or any Tablets, Iphones or sny other devices like that. Discord is a website that you can chat and lay with your friends with this website. I highly recommend this website more than anything. See More

MerryEirene's Experience

it was just a shitty version of teamspeak. See More

joshua4306's Experience

good See More

IngrownMink4's Experience

Wonderful UI, Great Community! See More

MagicalSkeiron's Experience

.5sec delay in voice, privacy concerns, ran by shady people with debt. You are selling your own privacy in exchange for this free program Mumble and TS3 are way superior product. See More

See All

Element (formerly Riot)

Top Pro

Libre/open source

The source code powering Matrix and Element is available to the public, ensuring total software freedom. See More

Top Con

Too skype-like

The idea of calling people like you have to on skype, is not a great thing. Should be more Discord-like, where you can have voice-chat-rooms, that people can join. See More

ReflectiveMellona's Experience

Its amazing. there are stickers bots ANYTHING you could possibly want on a chat room. I recommend this alot. See More

Specs

Platforms:MacOS, Windows, Linux, Android, Browser, iOS

End-to-end encryption:Yes (optional)

Audio recording:Yes

Publisher: New Vector Ltd

See All Specs

Top Pro

Bridges to other networks

You're not confined within Riot's or even Matrix garden, and you don't have to make users of other networks switch to Matrix. Element works with Facebook, WhatsApp, and other major platforms. See More

Top Con

Unable to create user name with upper case letter

They only accept lower case letters in the username (however the display name does accept all characters). See More

GloriousNgariman's Experience

can recommend. my friends love this app, we use it in our gaming group :D See More

Top Pro

File Sharing

Element allows for file sharing in encrypted or unencrypted rooms, making it a stellar choice for sharing your memories. See More

Top Con

Unreal bloated

200+MB of RAM after startup on Linux. See More

ComposedNuha's Experience

Element is a superb chat app. It's open-source, privacy-conscious, and all based on the decentralised Matrix platform. Element works well for gaming, group chats, study groups, and anything else you can throw at it! See More

Top Pro

VOIP and Videoconferencing

With the open-source Jitsi back end, Element shines in handling voice and video calls. See More

IngeniousWhiro's Experience

great See More

Top Pro

Supports encryption

Element allows for fully encrypted text, voice, and video chatting. See More

Top Pro

Fast

Element is especially quick when booting up, although there does need to be more work on performance. See More

Top Pro

Large existing community

One of Element's greatest qualities is its vibrant community. Element has public rooms for software developers, gamers, blogs, and privacy enthusiasts. See More

Top Pro

Cross platform

Element can be used in iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, Android and even a web browser. See More

Top Pro

Free

Anyone can make an account on Element. Unlike platforms such as Slack, Element is 100% free to use. See More

Top Pro

Security

Element is well-known for its security, coming with encrypted messages in direct messages by default. See More

Top Pro

Free Support

Having any issues? Element's stellar community are right there to help, 24/7. No more waiting times, or inefficient communication. See More

Top Pro

Decentralized

An open network for secure, decentralized communication. Element leverages the Matrix network, which works much like email: users from any Matrix-enabled server can communicate. See More

Top Pro

Ecosystem

Matrix, the technology Element is built on, supports alternative clients. See More

Top Pro

Markdown support

Code snippets in chats can be highlighted with Markdown. See More

Top Pro

Friendly Community

The Element community are especially friendly towards newcomers. See More

Top Pro

Moderation

By default, Element comes with a suite of moderation tools, so you can keep your community safe from harm. See More

Top Pro

Simple interface

Element has a very simple interface, adding the ability for more inexperienced users to use it. See More

Top Pro

Supports text, voice, video

In Element, you can communicate via group channels, voice chats and video conferences, all quickly and securely using Matrix. See More

Top Pro

Search

Search messages in your current room, or all the rooms you're in. Not subject to a message history limit like Slack. See More

Top Pro

Stickers

Element supports stickers which work very similar to Telegram. Any user can share a sticker in a public room, with free stickers released by the Element developers. See More

Top Pro

Well-designed

Element's design is modern, performant and easy to use. Users from platforms such as Slack, Discord or Mattermost will find Element extremely easy to use. See More

Top Pro

Self-hosting and federated network

Anyone can self-host Element or Matrix, with the plethora of official guides available online. See More

Top Pro

Etherpad real-time document collaboration

An easy to activate integration that allows multiple authors to edit a document simultaneously. See More

Top Pro

Good Business Model

Instead of selling users' data, Element puts you first. To generate revenue, Element offers paid hosting to companies. See More

Top Pro

Good for Gaming

Top Pro

Widgets support

Want to watch that flick at YouTube and discuss it at the same time? Have Grafana graphs stacked above your DevOps team chat? Collaboratively edit Google Docs and chat over without switching applications? This is possible with Element. See More

Top Pro

Snappy

Element developers have definitely factored performance into their range of apps, so you can talk to the people who matter quickly. See More

See All

Steam Chat

Top Pro

Easily one click invite

Now you can create and send links that will invite people directly into your group chat. Email, message, or text the link for them to join from the Steam Client or a web browser. See More

Top Con

Unstable

Better interface than the former Steam chat, but UI does not mean anything if voice chat does not work. If you won't use if for voice chat, especially for gaming, then it is good (like streaming etc.) but its voice chat is a bug nest. See More

RodneySafetyfield's Experience

Smooth and very easy to use. Also no other soft required, other than Steam of course See More

Top Pro

Supports mobile clients

Steam has a fully-featured mobile client support for Android and iOS, which makes it very easy to check in on the app and communicate while on the go. See More

MagicalHubal's Experience

Outstanding game platform used it since release own most of my games through steam and never had an issue with there products or voice chat software that built in to there own game like halflife teamfortress 2 tho games steam runs in background with chat server open you dont even notice in game. See More

Top Pro

Gets installed with Steam

When you are using someone else's computer for playing games Steam is normally installed See More

CreativeLelwani's Experience

gamer chat See More

Top Pro

Modernized chat

Every chat on Steam is now multi-media friendly. Getting your point across is easier than ever, now that everyone can see your GIFs inline rather than a list of links. Paste a picture from the clipboard and upload it directly to the chat. See More

DeliberateBenzaiten's Experience

Very unstable See More

Top Pro

Add friends easily to chat

Want to bring someone into a conversation? Just drag and drop your friends from the Friends List to send them an invite. See More

ImmaculateCicholGricenchos's Experience

I tried several times to use it while gaming on Epic and what ends up happening is I hear the in game audio over headphones nd voice over tv along with feedback from me. 1/10 would not recommend. See More

Top Pro

Can be used in browser

All of these features have been built to work not only in the Steam client, but also on the web. So you can continue conversations when you have access to a web browser but you're not logged in to the Steam client. See More

CulturedCeraon's Experience

love that See More

Top Pro

Servers

Put up a server instantly, add channels and invite! See More

Top Pro

Group friends by game & party

Your in-game friends are now grouped by the game they're playing, making it easier to join them, or to see which games are popular among friends. And see who's playing together. You can watch friends enter into a match and then emerge when their game is over. Be ready to dive in with them or to play when they're done. See More

See All

TeamSpeak 3

Top Pro

A lot of features

Top Con

Mobile app costs money

TeamSpeak for mobile platforms costs $1.99 for Android devices in Google play store or $4.99 for devices that run iOS. See More

AgreeableWagyl's Experience

Less taxing on PC resources See More

Specs

End-to-end encryption:yes (not by default)

Service integrations:Yes

Screensharing:No

Secure:Yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

Fine-grained administration options

Allows for complex administrative structures, with lots of roles and many other features related to server administration. See More

Top Con

Requires to self-host, rent or use a public server

TeamSpeak cannot be used without a private server (meaning TeamSpeak themselves do not provide servers). This adds complexity to the setup and may simply be out of reach for many users. There are, however, several free public servers available, Teamspeak offers to rent one, and many games have dedicated servers available through their respective websites. See More

FlexibleDaramulum's Experience

BUENISIMA See More

Top Pro

Advanced permissions

It has an advanced system to manage channel/server permissions. See More

Top Con

Outdated UI

The client itself feels really old, and even though there are custom huds, most of them don't feel modern. See More

LoveableBunbulama's Experience

BadBoyHalo and Skeppy uses this, but i cant really log in after discord banned me XD See More

Top Pro

Works on all main PC OS platforms

Available on Windows, Linux and OS X allows for a user to choose what best OS suits them and not have to worry if their game chat software will work. See More

Top Con

Proprietary software

It's not free. See More

DecisiveBabi's Experience

awesome See More

Top Pro

Supports audio and text chat

TeamSpeak allows for both voice and text chat. this adds flexibility, and can clarify information if somebody has a very poor connection, or a very thick accent. It also allows players without a mic to communicate with the other players. See More

Top Con

No video communication

Currently there is no video chat for the app. While not essential for in-game communication, outside of the game it would help to strengthen online relationships with your gaming pals. See More

GraciousSors's Experience

GG See More

Top Pro

Widely used

Among most MMOs (massive multiplayer online games such as Guild Wars 2, or World of Warcraft) Teamspeak is widely used so it's likely other players already use it and won't need to download a new program. There are also many knowledge and help articles available online. See More

Top Con

Too easy to hack

Your server may become vulnerable if you give admin away and do not configure your server properly. Keeping a record of backups is important, if you broke something while editing the configuration or your server has become compromised due to negligence. You will then be able to spin up a new instance. See More

EnthusiasticSusanoo's Experience

7 See More

Top Pro

Voice Activation Detection while using Push-To-Talk

MagicalHubal's Experience

Too easy to hack the voice server had my server destroyed but someone that got a ban for being abusive to one of my players because he was Indian it was reported nothing done about it closed server never used it again See More

Top Pro

Echo reduction

AmiableApheleia's Experience

Best voice quality out of all options. See More

Top Pro

Free for non-commercial use

As long as one is not using TeamSpeak for commercial services the app is free to use. This is great as most users will not be using it for commercial purposes (as long as you aren't making money off it you don't need to pay for it) such as gaming. See More

Top Pro

Unlimited nesting of channels

This allows for very granular organization. See More

Top Pro

Sound level tuning

You can tune everyone's sound output levels to meet your own personal preference in inbound volume. So to your ears nobody is too loud or too quiet. See More

Top Pro

Supports Encryption

Under "Edit Channel" --> "Advanced" --> theres a toggle button called "Voice Data Encrypted". Everything but file transfers is encrypted. See More

Top Pro

Plugin support

A wide range of plugins are available for those that want extra functionality, ranging from soundboards and overlays, to peripheral and application hooks. See More

Top Pro

Private hosting

You can host your own server. See More

Top Pro

TeamSpeak Sync

Signing up for a MyTeamSpeak account will allow you to synchronize your bookmarks, identities, hotkeys, whisper lists and channel subscriptions across all devices. MyTeamSpeak features will include addons synchronization, addons update management, and more. See More

Top Pro

Clean theme

Top Pro

Extremely user friendly

TeamSpeak has an intuitive interface that even non-tech savvy users can figure out. Being that it is a gaming focused app there is even less of an issue due to most PC gamers being tech-savvy already. See More

Top Pro

No privacy nightmare

See All

Blizzard Voice Chat

Top Pro

Built into the Battle.net app

As long as you have the Battle.net app, no extra software is required. See More

Top Con

Can only chat with friends and friends of friends

Though it might limit the amount of unwanted rude people in your chat, it does limit the functionality in some games, where chatting with randoms would be beneficial. See More

kaydence.smith's Experience

i dont have any experience See More

Top Pro

Clean UI

It has a clean UI that continues the dark blue Blizzard theme. See More

Top Con

Bad voice quality

The overall voice quality if very bad. The voice is kinda high-pitched and it adds some background noice to everyone, even when they're using a noice-canceler See More

GraciousFuxi's Experience

This cuts out very often and drives me nuts See More

Top Pro

hi

Top Con

Disconnects every 5 to 10 minutes

I have to go back to my desktop to remember to invite my friends to the voice chat. Incredibly annoying. See More

tecla04's Experience

i need this See More

Top Pro

killer

Top Con

Can only be used for Blizzard games

The voice chat can only be used for Blizzard games. Luckily, their games include World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Overwatch, Heartstone, Diablo and many others. See More

CharmingAtarsamain's Experience

hi See More

See All

Guilded

Top Pro

Documents

Guilded has built-in documents, which function similarly to Word documents. Sure, you can use Google documents for something like this, but this is built-in to the same application and functions according to your roles, removing all of the difficulty of dealing with permissions from another application. This is an invaluable feature that I could not live without. The documents are very well done, with drafts, multiple header sizes, dividers, the ability to add media wherever you want with subtitles, lists, and comment sections for each document. See More

Top Con

Kind of Buggy

Although it isn't more frequent than any other software, Guilded does tend to have a bug or two every now and then, some of which can be slightly annoying. They have fixed almost everything by the time of writing this, but new bugs do occasionally show up as they update and improve the platform. Almost all of them are just visual, or are easily to get around, though, luckily. See More

Star_Kindler's Experience

My experience with Guilded overall has been fantastic, and magnitudes better than my experience with Discord or Steam Chat, the other two software that I've tried. I find it easier to use, with more useful keybinds and shortcuts than either Discord or Steam Chat, and it easily outdoes either in features as well. It has so much more functionality, which for me was the reason I switched over to it in the first place. It's also, unlike Discord, completely 100% free! I will list features in detail under "reasons I recommend this" The only downside of Guilded for me is that it does have occasional bugs. However, I still find it as buggy or less so than its competitors. So, why do I mention this? Unlike its competitors, Guilded has absolutely phenomenal support. They listen to feedback, and will work with you to fix any bug that you might be experiencing. I've honestly never had support as good as Guilded's in my life, nor did I ever expect to. I mentioned a feature to one of their staff members and they said they'd bring it to the rest of the team in the next meeting! I believe Guilded is the best platform because of its features, but I hope it is and remains the best because of its staff. It probably sounds like I work or am paid by Guilded because of how much I love the platform, but I want to stress that this is not the case. I'm just a Guilded user who loves the platform, and wants to spread the joy of using it to as many people as possible. Far too few know about Guilded! One last thing, I did not put every amazing feature Guilded has in the "Reasons I recommend this," that would take forever. I just put the ones that I find most useful that other platforms don't have, or didn't implement as well. See More

Top Pro

Polls and forms

Guilded has built-in polls and forms, that you can use just for fun with your friends, or to vote for things in your server. They support multiple responses, short answer, long answer, multiple-choice, checklist, media, and single-select response types, multiple questions, optional questions and open submissions. See More

MemorableSpentaArmaiti's Experience

I've been using Guilded for two years now. It has more features than Discord. Be warned, it lacks an overlay, which is pretty much the most important feature of these voice programs for gamers. I don't know how far the Guilded developers are with adding an overlay. I am not even sure if they're working on it at all. Besides that missing key feature, it beats Discord in every other way. See More

Top Pro

Time availability

You can draw out your time availability to see how it aligns with that of others, which can really help with scheduling things. See More

Top Pro

To-do lists

You can make nested to-do lists to make running a server, or doing whatever else you might be working on, easier. They have the ability to add notes, each has their own thread, and you can assign them to specific roles or people. Moving stuff like this into one app makes things a lot simpler. See More

Top Pro

Very good support

Guilded's support is really, really good. When they talk to you they are incredibly kind, extremely and concisely helpful, and will work with you to solve most bugs that you might be experiencing. See More

Top Pro

Free features that Discord locks behind Nitro

Source quality streaming, 500mb video uploads, banners, gradient role colours and far more features that Discord doesn't have or locks behind a paywall are free on Guilded. One of the strangest features is private threads. See More

Top Pro

Voice Whispering and Broadcasting

Guilded's voice rooms can be nested inside of a single voice channel, heavily reducing clutter, and allowing for communication between voice rooms using whispering and broadcasting. If you need to organize 10+ people in a game, especially when it gets to something like 30+, it's hard to imagine doing it without Guilded's voice channels. It adds so much to, for example, Star Citizen gameplay that would simply be impossible in Discord or Steam Chat. See More

Top Pro

Forums

Guilded has built-in forums, some users prefer them to Discord's. Discord's are basically just organized text channels, where Guilded's allow full formatting, quoting, replies - far more features than you'd expect from something like steam's discussions, and done in a much more user-friendly way. See More

Top Pro

Lists

You can make bullet-form or numbered lists anywhere you need them, making things so much easier. See More

Top Pro

Built-in event calendars

Guilded has built-in event calendars with an alternate view-mode, automatic time-zone calculation and conversion, signups, invitations and optional role restrictions, member restrictions, wait-lists and sign-up forms. See More

See All

Google Hangouts

Top Pro

Most people already have an account

Many people already have a Google account - especially relatively tech savvy gamers, so they can already use Google Hangouts without requiring yet another account. See More

Top Con

Not focused around gaming

Hangouts is a general chat application, and as such it doesn't offer any specialized gaming features. It won't connect into any games, it doesn't normalize audio, there is no positional audio, or any other features gamers would appreciate. See More

ShrewdKubaba's Experience

No push to talk and the servers are bad See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web

End-to-end encryption:0

Audio recording:0

Genre:0

See All Specs

Top Pro

Mobile support

Hangouts offers both an Android and iOS app so users can participate from nearly any mobile device in addition to their desktop. See More

Top Con

Won't work on Windows 8-style UI

As Hangouts uses a browser plugin on the desktop and it doesn't work with Windows 8-style UI, it has to be used in desktop mode. See More

Top Pro

Voice, text, and video chat options

Most voice chat services directed at gaming offer text, but almost none support video. Video won't be useful when you are in-game, but after the raid/round/battle/session it can help strengthen your team if you can get face-to-face communication. See More

Top Con

Requires a strong internet connection

Hangouts can be finicky. Voices can drop out for minutes at a time if your connection isn't rock solid. Voices can also have some artifacting which makes it virtually impossible to understand whoever is talking. See More

Top Pro

Google Voice integration

Allows for a fixed phone number, receiving and making calls. Calling US or Canada is free. See More

Top Con

Owned by Google

Top Pro

Free group video support

Hangouts works with up to 10 participants using video out of the box or up to 15 if you are a business, government or school. It determines who is the primary speaker at any given time, and the camera view automatically switches to that user. See More

Top Con

Not recommended for long sessions

Top Pro

Easy to start using

Hangouts is integrated with Gmail & Google+, does not require you to download desktop software, and all chats can take place directly in your browser, significantly reducing the barrier to entry for a new user. See More

Top Con

High hardware usage

Top Pro

Screen sharing

Any user can share his screen (or only a specific desktop or window) while still continuing an audio conversation. See More

Top Con

Lacking clients for older versions

Top Pro

Live broadcasting and instant recording

With Google+ “Hangouts on Air”, you can broadcast any hangout to an unlimited audience via your Goolge+ Profile or simply a generic YouTube link. Moreover, any Hangout on Air (public or private) is automatically saved as YouTube video that you can keep for private reference or use in any way that you would normally share a YouTube video. This allows you to record conversations without additional obtrusive software. See More

Top Con

Poor video call quality

Only goes up to 720p30 + low bitrate. See More

Top Pro

Useful for businesses

Hangouts can scale to become a videoconferencing solution for an entire company, since the software can run on nearly all platforms. In fact, Google itself uses Hangouts as its meeting room video conference software. See More

Top Pro

Completely free

Google offers all features of Hangouts completely free. There are business, education and government solutions that increase the participant count to for video calls to 15 and offers support. See More

Top Pro

Cross platform

Hangouts work on Android, iOS, Chrome OS, web and as a Chrome extension. See More

Top Pro

Integrates with Google Maps for sharing locations

When chatting with people while trying to plan a meet up, the share map button can be extremely useful. See More

Top Pro

Android app does both sms and hangouts messaging

See All

Ventrilo

Top Con

Hasn't been updated in years

Barely works in compatibility with newer operating machines and the instructions for setup are somewhat outdated See More

Top Pro

it works

Top Con

Lacks a Linux client

Despite a native Android client, there is no client for the Linux OS. Though there are some third party options such as Mangler. See More

Top Pro

Stability

Very stable even if you own a low-end computer. See More

Top Con

Horrible latency issues

Due to the latency chat can be delayed on both sides of the conversation making for a very disjointed feeling that can be troublesome when second to second communication is necessary for coordination. See More

Top Pro

Easily text chat

On top of the VOIP communication the app focuses on there is also an integrated text chat tool that is a great option for when the user doesn't have a mic handy or just doesn't feel like talking. See More

Top Con

Requires a server to use

In order to use Ventrilo's VOIP tool one must rent their own server which costs around $50 a year which will afford one communication with 10-20 people. See More

Top Pro

Light on resources

For those that may have an under-powered system or just want to make sure most resources are pushed to the game instead of their VOIP client Ventrilo is a good choice as it is light on resources. See More

Top Pro

Useful online tutorial

Upon opening the app for the first time the user is presented with an online tutorial that covers how to register the app as wel as how to start using it. This greatly reduces the barrier to entry. See More

See All

Skype

Top Pro

Powerful 1:1 chat and also group chat

Top Con

Resource hog

Skype slows computers immensely and sometimes the audio cuts and skips. It uses up lots of RAM and CPU power, which can reduce the performance of your game. See More

MagicalHubal's Experience

run by microsoft it uses too much system resources too many updates for newer os, gamers dont like windows10 so they use windows7 of xp pro via a dual boot system. About time microsoft heard the public instead of forcing w10 on them so there forced to use live to play games witch of course they have to rebuy if you want to play it See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android, WP, OSX, Windows, Linux, Web. Blackberry. Chrome OS. BSD, iPadOs

End-to-end encryption:yes(optional)

Audio recording:yes

Publisher:Skype

See All Specs

Top Pro

Well-known

One of the earliest and most well-known voice chat services. Many people already have an account on it and even have it installed. There's a good chance that whoever you're trying to reach has Skype already set up and familiar with it, avoiding the hassle of installing and getting to know new software. See More

Top Con

Known for exposing user IP

This is bad for gaming as can result in DDoS attacks and detecting user location. See More

Top Pro

File sharing

Skype allows you to send any files (MP3s, images, text, etc.) by simply dragging and dropping then in the chat window making it simple to share things with colleagues. See More

Top Con

Ads

Ads all over the interface. See More

Top Pro

Mobile support

Apps available on iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone. This allows users to Skype on their phone (using one earbud for Skype and one for the game to prevent echoing), which frees up all of your computer's resources to maximize the fps in your game. See More

Top Con

Client for Linux lags way behind Mac and Windows

There is finally a new client for Linux in Alpha which you can download here. It still has beta and then a public launch to go through, while Mac and Windows both have had full clients for years. See More

Top Pro

Screen sharing

You can show your whole desktop, a select part of the screen or a specific window over Skype. See More

Top Con

Obnoxiously large ads

Ads take up over 25% of the usable space. See More

Top Pro

Available on Linux

A stripped down, minimalist version of Skype is available for Linux. See More

Top Con

No way to adjust volume per user

Some users have better or worse mics, and some are at different distances from them. Some users will be louder than others and drown out the quiet ones. Many chat clients allow you to reduce the volume of the loud players, and boost the volume of the quiet ones...however Skype doesn't. See More

Top Pro

Group video for free

You can hold video calls with up to 10 people. See More

Top Con

No real servers, only group chats

This means that permissions are hard to manage and multiple channels are actually just multiple group chats with no easy way to link them together. See More

Top Pro

Group chat with archive / records

Top Con

MIcrosoft (Skype's owner) actively assists eavesdroppers

On the other hand, if you lose your copy of one of your conversations, you may be able to get a copy of it from your government with a little bit of luck and a public records request. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

There's software for Windows, Mac & Linux and apps are available on iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone. See More

Top Con

Owned by Microsoft

Top Pro

You already have it and it works

Skype is already on your computer, so we make the Skype connection first, then the game connection. There are many negative comments, and some people have trouble running games and Skype together (supposedly solved by starting Skype first). Thus far it has worked with no problems. See More

Top Con

Plagued by bugs on all platforms

Crashes and other bugs are prevalent on Android, Windows and other platforms. See More

Top Pro

Comes with a Microsoft account

You just need a Microsoft account to sign in. See More

Top Con

Poor Linux support

The version available for linux users is quite outdated, and does not support some of the newer functionality, such as the free group video calling and screen sharing. See More

Top Pro

Send SMS and make regular calls

With Skype Credit bought or a subscription, you can send SMS and make direct calls. See More

Top Con

Poor quality when screensharing

It is not possible to manually set resolution or bitrate, and Skype often defaults to a resolution so low that text is unreadable. It is also not possible to transfer control over mouse and keyboard. See More

Top Pro

Cheap fixed phone number

Starting at $5/mo you can get a Skype number. See More

Top Con

Requires both ends to be online (if neither end is using a cloud-enabled device)

Messages are sent and received only when both ends are online, if neither end is using a cloud-enabled device. In this case, if you are online 9-17 and your recipient is online 18-3, messages will never be delivered. See More

Top Con

Not a feasible alternative as a professional team chat

Missing key feature such as centralized mgmt, centralized billing, data retention policies, etc. See More

Top Con

Slow filesharing speed

Top Con

Subpar video quality with more than 5 users

Skype has significant problems with multiple users and video quality. Skype recommends that a max of 5 users group chat as video quality is severely affected. Even webcams tested with other chat services showed lower quality when used with Skype. See More

See All

Matrix

YouTube

Roblox

Counter-Strike 1.6

Overtone

Steam

Omegle

Blackberry Keyone

Fortnite

discord

See flagged products

I Recommend...

Built By the Slant team

Find the best product instantly.

4.7 star rating

Try it now - it's free

score 626 · Accepted Answer

Mumble

Top Pro

Code available to anyone to inspect or use, no spy- or adware

Mumble is available as a free download and source code is available on GitHub. See More

Top Con

A bit more difficult to set up than similar solutions

The process of generating and/or acquiring certificates can be time-consuming and a bit more complex than setting up a username/password authentication that's found in other clients. Similarly, setting up a server that includes configuring user permission system requires advanced technical knowledge. See More

DiplomaticWadjet's Experience

You only get one chance at setting it up... and if you skip the enormous setup process, you can't redo it and can't connect to other servers. See More

Specs

End-to-end encryption:Yes

Audio recording:Yes

Secure:Yes

Positional Audio:sdgervbedb

See All Specs

Top Pro

Excellent voice quality

Since version 1.2.4, Mumble uses an audio codec named Opus that's specifically developed to provide low-latency voice communication over Internet. This means that there is no delay time, while audio still comes out clear. See More

Top Con

Disconnect issues

Can have occasions of disconnect or users keep getting booted. See More

Rikard Johnels's Experience

Small. Multiplatform. No frills. No "bells and whistles" (that you never use anyway...) Very fast, low latency. See More

Top Pro

Low latency and resource usage

Dedicated servers and low overhead allows Mumble to have the least delay between users speaking and others hearing their speech, which can be very important for fast paced games. See More

Top Con

Relatively poor voice quality

While Mumble's voice quality is fine, and you can understand what's being said, there is a noticeable difference between it and many other platforms. See More

BrightMalakbel's Experience

I mean, i haven't tried it, but after all the reading, i found it much safer and better than discord, teamspeak, so on... See More

Top Pro

Free and open-source server software

The server software Murmur is licensed under a free and open-source BSD-style license. See More

TruthfulPiltzintecuhtli's Experience

ADME IN ROBLOX 1V1 ME FOR 10000KR See More

Top Pro

Can be used on a gamers preferred platform

Available on Windows, Linux, OS X, Android and iOS which allows for the user to choose what operating system works for them and still be able to use Mumble. See More

ElatedKulla's Experience

good See More

Top Pro

Push-to-Talk

A push-to-talk key allows you to only transmit audio when you want it. Others won't hear you chewing or your mom entering the room unless you want to. See More

BrilliantAdapa's Experience

Mincraft voicechat See More

Top Pro

Free to download and use as a client

Mumble is completely free, even hosting your own server. See More

MagicalSkeiron's Experience

Used for MMORPG such as WoW, SWTOR, FF14 and other games for over 10yrs Played in very competitive top-ranked guilds, and mumble was by far the best vc for us. Almost no lag, light-weight and have the least amount of privacy concerns. See More

Top Pro

Use of certificates offers more security and easy people management

Mumble uses certificates for user identification. A certificate can be generated by the user himself or issued by a third-party organization with organization certificates having 2 classes. A self-generated certificate is not tied to anything, a Class 1 certificate is tied to an e-mail address and a Class 2 certificate requires proof of identity. Depending on the server a different level of certification might be required. See More

RationalPeitho's Experience

Simple, easy to use voice chat system, that is a Swiss Army Knife for this purpose. It does have a project that allows it to be accessed from within web browser without the need to install client software. See More

Top Pro

Server works on Raspberry Pi

Mumble server side is easy to setup and works smooth even on Raspberry Pi, which is pretty short on resources. See More

WiseTakemikazuchi's Experience

https://shrinke.me/yNWvr click this link yall this if fun ass game See More

Top Pro

Easily overlay over game

An in-game overlay can be enabled to show users in the channel or users talking. Overlay can be disabled completely or on a per-game basis by going to Settings->Overlay. This allows for users to see their chat but not obstruct the game they are playing. See More

PersonableWongTaiSin's Experience

I love how it allows you to choose the audio quality to save bandwidth if you are on mobile data. See More

Top Pro

Sub-channels

By default, only users in the same channel can hear each other. Channels can be nested to better organize yourself according to what you want to be talking about. See More

PersistentPeitho's Experience

it has positional audio and it sounds better than discord See More

Top Pro

Secure & encrypted

This encryption is mandatory and cannot be disabled. The so-called control channel, which transports your chat messages and other non-time critical information, is encrypted with TLS using 256 bit AES-SHA. The voice channel carrying speech and positional audio is encrypted with OCB-AES 128 bit. See More

ConscientiousPellonPekko's Experience

soooooper!!!! See More

Top Pro

Good audio normalization

Mumble includes great automatic volume adjustment functionality that can be used to prevent big volume changes while still allowing good communication. See More

EnthusiasticAstraeus's Experience

none i just need this app so people don't know my real voice See More

Top Pro

Positional audio

Mumble supports positional audio for over 50 games, including versions of Call of Duty, Battlefield and Counter-Strike. This allows you to hear the audio from the direction of the player speaking, making gameplay more immersive and giving competitive players an edge. You can find a full list of supported games here. See More

HumbleHidimba's Experience

I like it See More

Top Pro

Customizable UI

Version 1.3 introduced skins, allowing you to customize your UI, either on your own (tutorial here) or by using one of the skins found here. See More

HumblePerkunas's Experience

good its basically a replacement for discord See More

Top Pro

Portable version on PortableApps

DiplomaticFascinus's Experience

LACTATE MY TITIESSSSSSSSSSSSS See More

Top Pro

Server can be put on alternative firmware wireless routers

BraveKuninotokotachi's Experience

runs smoothly easy setup on VPS and great quality See More

PoisedSumugan's Experience

best audio quality See More

GenerousMuati's Experience

awsome See More

joshua4306's Experience

I want my friend to chat with me See More

See All

What is the best voice chat for gaming?

The Best 1 of 10 OptionsWhy?

Mumble

My Recommendation for Mumble

My Recommendation for Mumble

Code available to anyone to inspect or use, no spy- or adware

A bit more difficult to set up than similar solutions

Excellent voice quality

Disconnect issues

Low latency and resource usage

Relatively poor voice quality

Free and open-source server software

Can be used on a gamers preferred platform

Push-to-Talk

Free to download and use as a client

Use of certificates offers more security and easy people management

Server works on Raspberry Pi

Easily overlay over game

Sub-channels

Secure & encrypted

Good audio normalization

Positional audio

Customizable UI

Portable version on PortableApps

Server can be put on alternative firmware wireless routers

9 Other Options Considered

Discord

My Recommendation for Discord

My Recommendation for Discord

Can be used in browser

No dedicated servers

Targeting of roles

Servers only in select regions

Supports mobile clients

Anti-privacy license terms

Free, infinite servers

It is closed source software

Dark theme out of the box

Based on Electron = eats a lot of ram

Easy setup

No self-hosting avaliable

User friendly

Developer's previous company was sued for privacy violations, among other things

Good 1-click invite system

Proprietary software

Accessible to anyone

It sometimes drops voice and sound

In-game overlay

Voice delay

Not a generic "team chat" tool

Spying

Simple & appealing UI

Permission system is very basic

Game integration

No plugin system

Most of the features included in a free version

Limited file transfers

Ability to thread channels

Very unstable on Linux

High adoption rate

Connection issues are severe

Cross-platform

No positional audio

Supports video and text communication

Some functions cut out and available only with "Nitro" subscription

Can be very simple, but also very complex

Push-to-talk only works in Desktop Client

Language localization

Can change "Now Playing" status to something inappropriate

User feedback

Age-restricted

Open source bots and management tools

The area displaying the channel tree is too small and makes it hard to see where people are and who's talking

Excellent voice quality

Does not work on older versions of Windows

Numerous controls for setting member roles

Focused on streamers and not communities

Does not allow NSFW related things to be posted unless in a NSFW channel

It does not save individual account preferences

Android app has push notifications