What is Stoat? The open-source Discord alternative

Discord works well, until it doesn't. For communities that care about data ownership, want to run their own infrastructure, or just don't want to depend on a commercial platform's roadmap and terms of service, Discord starts to feel like the wrong foundation. Stoat is built for those communities.

This guide covers what Stoat is, how it works, what it costs, and how it compares to Discord. We'll also show you how IFTTT connects Stoat to the rest of your stack.

IFTTT is an automation platform that connects over 1000 apps and services, so instead of monitoring channels manually or copying messages between tools, you can build automations that mirror conversations, alert your team, and keep Stoat connected to everything else you use, automatically.

What is Stoat?

Stoat is an open-source, privacy-focused community chat platform with servers, channels, voice, and bots. It's designed to work like Discord: organized servers, topic-based channels, real-time messaging, member management, but built on an open foundation that communities can inspect, modify, and host themselves.

The core difference is ownership. Discord is a closed commercial platform: your community's data lives on Discord's servers, under Discord's terms, subject to Discord's decisions about the product. Stoat is open source, which means the code is publicly available, auditable, and self-hostable. Communities that need to know exactly where their data goes, or that want to run their own instance entirely, have a path to do that with Stoat that doesn't exist with Discord.

What is Stoat used for?

Developer and open-source communities use Stoat to build spaces where transparency and ownership align with their values. Running a community on open-source infrastructure is consistent with how they build software.

Privacy-conscious organizations use Stoat when data residency matters, whether for regulatory reasons, organizational policy, or simply a preference for knowing exactly where member conversations are stored.

Gaming and hobby communities looking for a Discord alternative use Stoat for the familiar structure: servers, channels, voice, without being tied to a commercial platform.

Teams building community-led products use Stoat to keep their community discussions close to their workflow, connecting channels to the tools they already use for support, development, and communication.

How does Stoat work?

Stoat is organized around servers. Each server is a community space with its own channels, members, and settings. Within a server, channels are organized by topic or purpose, and members post messages in real time. The structure will be immediately familiar to anyone who has used Discord.

Members join servers via invite links and can participate in as many channels as their role permissions allow. Server administrators control who can post, who can manage channels, and how moderation is handled. Bots can be added to automate tasks within the server.

Because Stoat is open source, communities have the option to self-host their own instance, meaning the server runs on infrastructure they control, with data that never leaves their own environment. For communities that don't want to manage infrastructure, Stoat also offers a hosted option at stoat.chat.

Is Stoat free?

Stoat is open source, which means the software itself is free to use. You can run your own Stoat instance at no cost beyond the infrastructure required to host it.

For communities that want a hosted option without managing their own servers, Stoat offers hosted plans through stoat.chat. Pricing details are available directly on the Stoat website, as plans may vary based on community size and features.

Stoat vs. Discord: what's the difference?

Stoat and Discord share a similar structure: servers, channels, voice, bots, but differ significantly in ownership, transparency, and who they're built for. Here's how they compare:

Bottom line: If Discord works for your community and data ownership isn't a concern, there's no urgent reason to switch. If you care about where your community's data lives, want to run your own infrastructure, or simply prefer building on open-source software, Stoat gives you that option with a familiar enough interface that the transition isn't a reinvention. Both connect to IFTTT, so whichever platform you use, you can automate it across your workflow.

What are Stoat's limitations?

The most significant limitation is maturity. Stoat is a newer platform, which means the bot ecosystem, third-party integrations, and community resources are smaller than Discord's. Teams that depend on specific Discord bots or integrations will find fewer drop-in equivalents on Stoat today.

Self-hosting, while a feature for technical users, is also a real operational consideration. Running your own instance means managing uptime, security, and updates. For non-technical community operators, that overhead may outweigh the benefits of data ownership, which is why the hosted option at stoat.chat exists, but it's worth understanding the tradeoff before choosing.

Stoat's voice features, while functional, are less polished than Discord's, which has invested heavily in low-latency audio and video infrastructure. Communities where live voice is central to the experience may notice the gap.

Finally, because Stoat is newer, member familiarity is lower. Inviting people to a Discord server carries no friction, they likely already have an account. Inviting people to Stoat requires an extra step, which can slow community growth for spaces that depend on low-barrier entry.

How IFTTT works with Stoat

Stoat handles your community. IFTTT connects it to the rest of your stack. Instead of manually watching channels for important messages or copying conversations between tools, you build the automation once, triggered by what happens in Stoat, routed wherever it needs to go.

IFTTT's Stoat integration works through three triggers and one action:

• - New message in a channel: fires every time a new message is posted in the channel you specify
• - New message with a phrase: fires when a message containing a specific phrase is posted in the channel you specify
• - New member joined your server: fires every time a new member joins the server you specify
• - Post a message to a channel: posts a message to the channel you specify

Mirror conversations across platforms

When a message is posted in a Stoat channel, IFTTT can route it to other platforms your team is monitoring. A message in a Stoat support channel posts to Slack so your team can respond from either place. Stoat channel activity flows to Google Sheets for a running log. Discord communities that are transitioning to Stoat can mirror messages in both directions during the overlap period.

Alert on keywords and phrases

The "new message with a phrase" trigger is one of the most useful for community managers. These Applets can watch specific channels for keywords: a brand mention, a support request pattern, a flagged phrase, and fire an alert the moment one appears. That alert can go to Slack, send an email, post a notification to your phone, forward the message to Telegram, or tweet it out automatically.

This turns passive channel monitoring into an active alerting system, without anyone having to stay in the channel.

Welcome new members automatically

When a new member joins your Stoat server, IFTTT can fire a webhooks request to any external system, kicking off an onboarding flow, logging the event, or notifying another tool entirely.

You can also use Date & Time to post scheduled messages to a Stoat channel automatically, so recurring announcements, daily updates, or timed welcome content go out without anyone having to send them manually.

Post into Stoat from anywhere

The Post a message to a channel action means IFTTT can push content into Stoat from almost any source. RSS feed updates post to a news channel automatically. Ring motion alerts post to a security channel. Scheduled messages go out at set times. Webhooks from external systems post to the relevant channel without anyone manually relaying the update.

Explore Stoat integrations

Slack to Stoat

Keep Stoat and Slack in sync. Useful for teams that operate across both platforms and want messages and alerts visible in each without manual relaying.

• - Post Stoat channel messages to Slack
• - Post new Google Sheets rows to Stoat channel
• - Mirror activity between platforms automatically

Set up Slack → Stoat

Telegram to Stoat

Route Telegram channel messages into Stoat, or send Stoat channel updates to Telegram. Useful for communities that use both platforms or are migrating between them.

• - Post Telegram channel messages to Stoat
• - Send Stoat channel messages to Telegram
• - Keep both communities updated without double-posting

Set up Telegram → Stoat

GitHub to Stoat

Post Stoat alerts and activity into your development workflow. Useful for developer communities who want channel phrases or new member events to trigger actions in their repo.

• - Create GitHub issues when Stoat messages contain a phrase
• - Route development-related Stoat activity to your GitHub workflow
• - Connect community discussions to your codebase automatically

Set up GitHub → Stoat

Google Sheets to Stoat

Log Stoat channel activity to a spreadsheet. Useful for community managers tracking message volume, new member activity, or keyword mentions over time.

• - Log Stoat channel messages to Google Sheets
• - Post new Google Sheets rows to a Stoat channel
• - Build a running record of community activity automatically

Set up Google Sheets → Stoat

10 more ways to automate your community workflow

If you're already connecting Stoat with IFTTT, these Applets work well alongside it, keeping Discord, Slack, Telegram, and the other platforms your community lives on in sync. Based on how Stoat users typically work, we recommend exploring Discord, Telegram, and Slack as natural next steps.

Stoat and IFTTT: better together

Stoat gives communities a private, open-source alternative to Discord. IFTTT connects it to the tools they're already using: routing messages, logging activity, alerting on keywords, and welcoming new members automatically, without anyone having to watch channels manually.

Ready to connect Stoat to your workflow? Get started on IFTTT today, no code required.

Frequently asked questions about Stoat

How is Stoat different from Slack?

Stoat and Slack are both real-time messaging platforms, but they're designed for different audiences. Slack is a workplace communication tool, organized around direct messages and topic channels for internal teams. Stoat is a community platform, organized around public or semi-public servers with multiple channels, closer in structure to Discord than to Slack. If you're building a community around a product, project, or interest group, Stoat is the better fit. If you're coordinating an internal team, Slack is purpose-built for that.

Does Stoat have a mobile app?

Visit stoat.chat for the latest information on mobile app availability. As an open-source platform, Stoat's mobile support may vary depending on whether you're using the hosted version or a self-hosted instance.