seriously, if you’re looking for a proper FOSS discord replacement i cannot stress enough how good the new Sable 2.x releases are.
to name a few things that make this really fucking cool, it has:
- an actually working mobile client available in the play store and soon the iOS app store (if it isn’t already)
- voice/video channels, forum channels, etc.
- spaces set up as a feature-complete replacement for discord guilds with roles, categorization, permission syncing, etc.
- detailed discord-like profiles with status (including per-space/channel personas)
- cool features you would have expected to see in a golden age IM like custom fonts, colors, rich text editing, etc.
- decentralization with federation via the matrix protocol
- end-to-end encryption available for both DMs and guild channels (unlike a certain slop discord clone that’s been making the rounds lately)
- awesome maintainers who actually listen to the users and aren’t chuds
- a policy against vibecoded PRs
- a cute animal mascot (including a trans flag variant)
if you’re new to matrix, try this. if you’re already using matrix, try this because it’s better than the other clients (especially element)
How does it compare to something like Armada?
i’m not really familiar with armada so i’m not sure how it compares feature-wise to sable, but one benefit i can potentially see for using sable regardless is that the matrix protocol is mature, well-tested, and is trusted and used by the likes of debian, fedora, mozilla, numerous governments, etc.