Koaich vs. Discord
Community chat — not a workspace tool.
What Discord optimizes for
Discord is built for community-by-design content — public servers, gaming guilds, fan communities. Privacy isn't the bet.
- ·Text messages stored server-readable (voice/video added DAVE E2E in late 2024; text didn't)
- ·Free tier funded by future monetization of the platform — your data is the resource
- ·Built around public servers as the default usage pattern
Where Koaich is different
Discord stores text messages in cleartext. Voice and video have E2E (DAVE protocol, late 2024) but text doesn't. Koaich isn't a Discord competitor — we're for the conversations Discord wouldn't fit anyway.
Pick Discord when
The content is public-by-design — a community, fandom, or public forum where privacy isn't a property anyone needs.
Pick Koaich when
You're doing client work, regulated work, or anything where 'the platform can read this' is the wrong answer.
Questions people ask about Discord and Koaich
Are Discord messages end-to-end encrypted?
Discord text messages (DMs, group DMs, server channels) are not end-to-end encrypted. Discord stores them server-side in a form Discord's services can read. As of late 2024, Discord uses the DAVE protocol for end-to-end encryption on voice and video — text is unchanged.
What is the DAVE protocol?
DAVE (Discord Audio & Video End-to-End Encryption) is Discord's E2E implementation for voice and video calls, layered on the IETF MLS protocol. It applies to A/V media; it does not encrypt text chat, attachments, or message history.
Is Discord a good workspace tool?
Discord is built for community-by-design content (public servers, gaming guilds, fan communities). The architecture optimizes for discovery and public chat — privacy is not the bet. For private workplace use, the data exposure profile is unfavorable.
What's a private alternative to Discord for workplace chat?
Koaich is an end-to-end encrypted workspace where every message, file, and document is encrypted on the user's device. For workplace conversations where 'the platform can read this' is the wrong answer, the trust model is structurally different from Discord's.
Switching from Discord?
Get on the waitlist. Invites are going out in waves.