Overview

Skype

Stacks17.4K

Followers13.5K

Votes653

Discord

Stacks1.7K

Followers1.5K

Votes782

Discord vs Skype: What are the differences?

Introduction

In today's digital world, communication platforms have become a crucial part of our lives. Two popular communication platforms are Discord and Skype. Although both serve the purpose of connecting people, there are key differences between the two. Here are six specific differences that set Discord and Skype apart.

Target Audience and Purpose: Discord primarily caters to the gaming community, providing seamless voice chat and text communication features. On the other hand, Skype is more versatile, targeting a wider range of users including individuals, businesses, and organizations for both personal and professional communication purposes.
Server Structure: Discord follows a server-based model, where users can create or join servers with specific interests or communities. This structure allows for easy organization and management, giving users more control over their conversations. Skype, however, is centered around contact lists and individual contacts, making it more suitable for one-on-one or small group conversations.
Voice Quality and Features: Discord is well-known for its superior voice quality even in crowded servers, making it ideal for gamers and those who prioritize clear communication. It offers advanced features like noise suppression and echo cancellation. On the other hand, while Skype provides reliable voice quality, it may not offer the same level of clarity and additional features as Discord.
Text Chat Features: Discord focuses on providing a more robust text chat experience. It supports channels for different topics within a server, allowing users to engage in organized conversations. It also supports markdown formatting, code blocks, and a wide range of emojis. In comparison, Skype offers a simpler chat interface with the ability to send files, images, and emojis, but lacks the organizational features of channels.
Third-Party Integrations: Discord has an extensive range of third-party integrations, allowing users to connect Discord with other platforms, such as Twitch, Spotify, and YouTube, enhancing their overall experience. On the other hand, Skype has limited third-party integrations, primarily focusing on features offered by Microsoft, its parent company, such as Office 365 and Outlook.
Pricing: Discord is free to use, offering its core features at no cost. It also provides a premium subscription called Discord Nitro, which offers additional benefits like higher quality screen sharing and animated emotes. Skype, on the other hand, offers a freemium model, with basic features available for free, but charging for premium features such as calling landlines or mobile numbers.

In summary, Discord is primarily geared towards the gaming community with a server-based structure, superior voice quality, and advanced text chat features, while Skype targets a wide range of users with its versatile contact-based model, reliable voice quality, and a simpler chat interface. Discord also offers more extensive third-party integrations and has a different pricing structure compared to Skype.

Advice on Skype, Discord

JutzMe

May 19, 2020

Decided

as many people say that you can only hold 30 to 10 people in one discord call if you were to make a server and add a chat or a VC you can hold up to 99 which is more than zoom and you can also use the text chat, general chat or anything else that you add and the best part you can hold pretty much infinite people I have personally seen servers with up to 100k people in it. One of the better parts is that you don't necessarily have to download it you can search it up on google and make an account it's as easy as that. Another thing is due to the original purpose of the website/app is that it's very customizable meaning that your students can customize heir profile pictures and names, but not to worry in a discord server you can have it where only you can change their nicknames so let's say things get too confusing or you want to be able to see who they really are you can just change it to their name. One last thing I will say is that you can have customizable ranks and so on so if you desire to split people into teams you can do so and with that, you can customize what they can do like give people ranks or de-rank them. Like I mentioned earlier about VC's you can also screen share and do videos so you can see their screen or their face.

320k views320k

Comments

Lisa

Mar 20, 2020

Needs advice

Hi, I am helping teachers in my kid's schools to set up distance learning and wanted to see what is better between Webex, Zoom, and Skype (although only putting this one in as most parents probably have it). The children are 8-9, so they won't be using it on their own and the parents have no experience using Webex or Zoom.

The main use will be for the teacher to explain what they will be covering in the week and enable some social interaction between the kids.

I need to be easy to use for about 20-25 people.

Thanks for your advice, Lisa

202k views202k

Comments

Mai

Aug 12, 2020

Needs adviceon

Discord

Zoom

I want to host an online Jeopardy game with less than 30 participants. During each round of the game, I'll stream some videos. The point is to gather friends together to play the Jeopardy game and watch random stuff. Please let me know if there's a more suitable platform other than Discord and Zoom. Thanks, everyone!

919k views919k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Skype	Discord
Skype’s text, voice and video make it simple to share experiences with the people that matter to you, wherever they are.	Discord is a modern free voice & text chat app for groups of gamers. Our resilient Erlang backend running on the cloud has built in DDoS protection with automatic server failover.
Calling- Make free Skype to Skype calls or call mobiles and landlines home and abroad at low rates.;Video- Catch up face to face or get a whole group together on a video call.;Messaging- You're always in the loop with instant messaging, voice messaging and sending texts.;Sharing- Send photos, videos and files of any size.	-
Statistics
Stacks 17.4K	Stacks 1.7K
Followers 13.5K	Followers 1.5K
Votes 653	Votes 782
Pros & Cons
Pros 258 Free, widespread 147 Desktop and mobile apps 110 Because i have to :( 57 Low cost international calling 56 Good for international calls Cons 5 Really high CPU utilization during video/screenshare 3 Outdated UI 3 Not always reliable 3 The worst indicator noises of any app ever 3 Birthday notifications are annoying	Pros 64 Unlimited Users 58 Unlimited Channels 54 Easy to use 50 Voice Chat 48 Fast and easy set-ups and connections Cons 10 Not as many integrations as Slack 9 For gamers 5 Limited file size 4 For everyone 4 Sends data to US Gov

What are some alternatives to Skype, Discord?

Zoom

Zoom unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, and cross platform group chat into one easy-to-use platform. Our solution offers the best video, audio, and screen-sharing experience across Zoom Rooms, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and H.323/SIP room systems.

Google Meet

It is the business-oriented version of Google's Hangouts platform and is suitable for businesses of all sizes. It allows users to dial in phone numbers to access meetings, thus enabling users with slow internet connection to call in.

Jitsi

Jitsi (acquired by 8x8) is a set of open-source projects that allows you to easily build and deploy secure videoconferencing solutions. At the heart of Jitsi are Jitsi Videobridge and Jitsi Meet, which let you have conferences on the internet, while other projects in the community enable other features such as audio, dial-in, recording, and simulcasting.

Webex

Collaborate with colleagues across your organization, or halfway across the planet. Meet online and share files, information, and expertise. Collaborate from wherever you are with Webex mobile apps for IPhone, iPad, Android, or Blackberry. If you can get online, you can work together.

Viber

It is a cross-platform instant messaging and voice over IP application provided as freeware for the Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS platforms.

Jami

It is a free software for universal communication which respects freedoms and privacy of its users. Its main goal is to provide a communication framework and end-user applications to make audio or video calls, send text messages and make generic data transfers. It makes this possible via multiple paradigms: a modern decentralized approach using a DHT to find peers or classical centralized SIP as a soft-phone.

WebRTC

It is a free, open project that enables web browsers with Real-Time Communications (RTC) capabilities via simple JavaScript APIs. The WebRTC components have been optimized to best serve this purpose.

TeamViewer

Its aproprietary software for remote control, desktop sharing, online meetings, web conferencing and file transfer between computers.

Hangouts

It is a communication platform which includes messaging, video chat, and VOIP features.

GoToMeeting

It is an online meeting, desktop sharing, and video conferencing software package that enables the user to meet with other computer users, customers, clients or colleagues via the Internet in real time.