What is Discord?
Discord organizes conversation into servers, invitation-based spaces that contain text channels for ongoing discussion and voice channels people can drop in and out of without placing a call. Server owners create roles with detailed permissions, add bots and apps, and set up forum channels, announcement channels and scheduled events, while members can also talk one to one or in small groups through direct messages and calls.
The app grew out of gaming, and many features serve players: low-latency voice chat, Go Live streaming of games to friends, activity status that shows what someone is playing, voice integrations with Xbox and PlayStation consoles, and Activities, which are games and apps that run inside voice calls. Game studios use the Social SDK to connect in-game friends and chat with Discord, and publishers reach players through sponsored Quests that reward them with in-app items or Orbs. Discord says more than 90 percent of its users play video games.
Beyond games, Discord hosts study groups, open-source projects, creators and fan communities, and in 2025 protest movements in Nepal and Morocco used it to organize. Safety has become a central issue as the platform has grown. Discord uses automated moderation tools such as AutoMod, encrypts voice and video calls end to end, and in 2026 announced that teen-appropriate settings would become the default worldwide unless users are confirmed as adults, before delaying the global rollout to the second half of the year. It has also faced lawsuits and government orders over child safety, including a Texas lawsuit filed in May 2026 and a Brazilian order in August 2026 to block livestreaming in the country.
Key features of Discord
- 01
Servers and channels
Communities are organized into servers with separate text, voice, forum and announcement channels, so different topics and activities stay in their own spaces.
- 02
Drop-in voice channels
Members join and leave voice channels at will without placing calls, which suits gaming sessions, study groups and informal hangouts that can run for hours.
- 03
Go Live and screen sharing
Users can stream a game, an application or their whole screen to friends in a voice channel or call, with higher resolutions available to Nitro subscribers.
- 04
Roles, permissions and AutoMod
Server administrators assign roles that control what members can see and do, and AutoMod filters spam, harmful links and blocked words before they reach channels.
- 05
Bots, apps and Activities
Developers build bots and apps with Discord’s APIs, and Activities let groups play games or use shared apps together directly inside a voice call.
- 06
Nitro subscription
Nitro adds larger file uploads, HD streaming, custom emoji and stickers across servers, profile customization, Server Boosts and partner rewards such as an Xbox Game Pass tier.
- 07
Social SDK for games
Game developers can add Discord friends lists, presence, messaging and voice chat to their games, including communication between players with and without Discord accounts.
- 08
Safety and privacy controls
Teen safety defaults, sensitive content filters, a separate inbox for messages from unknown users and family tools help control who can contact users and what they see.
Who uses Discord?
- Friends coordinate multiplayer gaming sessions in voice channels and share gameplay with each other through Go Live streaming.
- Game studios and publishers run official community servers for announcements, player feedback, support and events.
- Creators and streamers host fan communities with roles, subscriptions and bots that reward active members.
- Students form study servers and use voice channels to work through assignments and exam preparation together.
- Open-source projects and developer communities use Discord for real-time support and discussion alongside their code repositories.
History of Discord
Discord began inside Hammer & Chisel, the game studio Jason Citron founded in 2012 after selling OpenFeint. While developing the iPad game Fates Forever, the team, including co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy, grew frustrated with voice chat tools that were unreliable and awkward to use, and it built a chat service with gamers in mind. Discord launched on May 13, 2015, spread quickly through gaming subreddits and Twitch communities, and reported 25 million users by December 2016.
Nitro, the first paid subscription, arrived in January 2017. Discord briefly sold games through its own store in 2018 and 2019 before closing it to focus on communication, and its monthly users doubled to about 140 million in 2020. In 2023 it replaced numbered Discord tags with unique usernames. Under Discord chief executive Humam Sakhnini, who took over in April 2025, the service added Orbs and new ad formats in 2025 and, in 2026, Nitro Rewards and plans for teen-by-default settings worldwide.
- 2015
Discord launches publicly on May 13 as a chat app for gamers.
- 2016
Discord reports 25 million users by December.
- 2017
Discord Nitro, the service’s first paid subscription, launches in January.
- 2018
Discord opens a game store, which it closes the following year.
- 2020
Discord’s monthly users double to about 140 million.
- 2023
Discord replaces numbered Discord tags with unique usernames.
- 2025
Orbs and the Social SDK launch, and a vendor breach exposes about 70,000 users’ ID images.
- 2026
Discord announces worldwide teen-by-default settings, and Nitro Rewards adds partner perks.
Discord pricing
Pricing modelFreemium
Free to use; optional Nitro and Nitro Basic subscriptions add upload, streaming and customization perks, and Server Boosts unlock community features.
Prices change often. Check the official Discord website for current plans.
Discord alternatives
Well-known alternativesSlack, TeamSpeak, Telegram, Element and WhatsApp
Discord: frequently asked questions
Who makes Discord?
Discord is made by Discord Inc., a privately held company headquartered in San Francisco. It was created by Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy at their game studio Hammer & Chisel and launched in 2015. Humam Sakhnini has been the company’s CEO since April 2025, and Vishnevskiy is its chief technology officer.
What is Discord used for?
Discord is used for voice, video and text chat, mainly by people who play video games together. It is also used by study groups, creators, fan communities, open-source projects and companies to run community servers with channels, events, bots and livestreams.
Is Discord free?
Yes. Discord’s core features, including servers, messaging, voice and video calls and screen sharing, are free. The optional Nitro and Nitro Basic subscriptions add perks such as larger uploads, higher-quality streaming and profile customization, and users can buy Server Boosts or items from the Discord Shop.
When was Discord released?
Discord was released publicly on May 13, 2015, by Hammer & Chisel, the game studio founded by Jason Citron. It launched as a chat app for gamers and grew to 25 million users by the end of 2016 and more than 200 million monthly active users by 2025.
Does Discord require age verification?
In some cases. Discord requires age checks in countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia to comply with local laws. In February 2026 it announced teen-appropriate default settings for accounts worldwide, with adults confirmed through an age inference model, on-device facial age estimation or an ID check, but it delayed that global rollout to the second half of 2026.
Is Discord end-to-end encrypted?
Partly. Discord uses end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls, so the audio and video can be decoded only by the people in the call. Text messages in servers and direct messages are not end-to-end encrypted.
Sources
- About Discord discord.com
- Discord Launches Nitro Rewards discord.com
- Discord, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
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