Fluxer: The Open-Source Alternative to Discord

For years, Discord has been the digital living room of the internet: gamers, developers, creators, and entire online communities have called it home. But that home is starting to feel… monitored.

Beginning in March 2026, Discord plans to automatically classify all accounts as belonging to minors by default. To regain full access, users will be required to verify their age using facial scans or official ID documents. Unsurprisingly, the announcement landed like a lead balloon. For many users, this isn’t just about inconvenience—it’s about trust.

And trust was already fragile. In October 2025, a data breach involving one of Discord’s third-party providers exposed personal user data, including government ID documents for some accounts. That incident planted a seed of doubt that has only grown since.

Now, thousands of users are asking the same question: Is there a safer, more transparent alternative?
Enter Fluxer.

What Is Fluxer, and Why Is Everyone Suddenly Talking About It?

Just weeks ago, Fluxer was flying under the radar. Today, it’s being mentioned everywhere Discord users gather—Reddit threads, X posts, private group chats. The timing isn’t accidental.

Fluxer is a free, open-source instant messaging and VoIP platform, fully hosted in Europe and built with a strong focus on privacy, transparency, and user control. No mandatory ID verification. No facial scans. No opaque data policies.

I spent several days testing Fluxer on Windows, poking around its features, performance, and limitations. Here’s what stood out.

From a Student Bedroom to a Global Conversation

Behind Fluxer is a surprisingly human story.

The project was created by Hampus Kraft, a 22-year-old computer engineering student at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. He started working on Fluxer nearly five years ago, during the 2020 pandemic, originally as a way to deeply understand how Discord worked under the hood.

At some point, curiosity turned into ambition. Instead of just learning from Discord, Hampus decided to build his own alternative—one that fixed what he saw as structural problems.

Fluxer entered public beta on October 25, 2025. Despite being largely developed solo for years, it already targets both casual users and large communities looking for a Discord-like experience without the trade-offs.

The project is released under the AGPLv3 license, meaning the entire source code is public, and anyone can self-host their own Fluxer server if they want full control.

A Familiar Interface That Doesn’t Fight Your Muscle Memory

Let’s get this out of the way: Fluxer looks a lot like Discord. That’s intentional—and honestly, it’s a smart move.

The left sidebar shows servers. Channels sit neatly in the middle. Member lists live on the right. Status indicators, reactions, and message layouts feel instantly recognizable. If you’ve spent years on Discord, Fluxer won’t make you relearn how to communicate.

The difference? Fluxer goes a step further by allowing custom CSS modifications, giving power users far more control over the interface than Discord ever has.

In short: familiar enough to feel comfortable, flexible enough to feel refreshing.

Features Available Today (and What’s Still Coming)

For a platform still in beta, Fluxer already covers the essentials—and then some.

Core Messaging and Community Tools

• Real-time text messaging with Markdown support
• Message reactions and threaded replies
• File sharing and rich link previews
• Voice and video calls with screen sharing and noise suppression
• Servers with text and voice channels
• Roles, permissions, and moderation tools
• Audit logs and message search
• Custom emojis and stickers

What’s Missing (For Now)

Some features power users might expect aren’t there yet:

• Advanced forums and expanded thread systems
• Slash commands and bot integrations
• Polls and activity sharing

The good news? All of these are already listed on Fluxer’s 2026 roadmap, along with instance federation, which will eventually allow users on different servers to communicate—similar to how federated platforms like Mastodon work.

Free vs Plutonium: How Fluxer Makes Money

Fluxer uses a freemium model, but it’s refreshingly reasonable.

Free Tier

The free version is more than enough for everyday use. You won’t hit artificial limits that force you to upgrade just to enjoy basic functionality.

Plutonium Subscription ($4.99/month)

Plutonium is Fluxer’s premium tier—roughly equivalent to Discord Nitro—and includes:

• Custom username tags
• Per-server profiles
• Scheduled messages
• 4K 60 FPS streaming
• Animated avatars and profile banners
• File uploads up to 500 MB
• Early access to new features

Here’s the twist: if you self-host your own Fluxer instance, every premium feature is unlocked for free. No subscription. No strings attached. That alone will make system admins and privacy-focused users smile.

Platform Support: Strong on Desktop, Weak on Mobile (for Now)

Fluxer is currently available on:

• Windows 10+
• macOS 10.15+ (Apple Silicon and Intel)
• Linux (AppImage, DEB, RPM, tar.gz — x64 and ARM64)

Desktop coverage is excellent.

Mobile, however, is Fluxer’s Achilles’ heel. There are no native iOS or Android apps yet. Instead, users rely on a Progressive Web App (PWA) that supports push notifications and home-screen installation.

It works—but it’s not ideal. Hampus has acknowledged this limitation, and following the recent surge of interest, Flutter developers have reportedly offered help to accelerate native mobile app development.

Real-World Testing: Honest Impressions

After several days of hands-on testing, Fluxer leaves a strong first impression—but it’s not without flaws.

The Good

• Clean, intuitive interface
• Familiar workflow for Discord users
• Solid core features
• Clear privacy-first philosophy

The Not-So-Good

Fluxer is currently a victim of its own success. Since Discord’s age-verification announcement, the influx of new users has pushed its infrastructure to the limit. During testing, I encountered:

• Noticeable slowdowns
• Difficulty creating channels
• Delayed or missing verification emails

These aren’t deal-breakers, but they are reminders that Fluxer is still in beta, run by a very small team with limited resources.

That said, it’s hard to fault a student-led project for not anticipating a sudden mass migration away from one of the internet’s largest platforms.

Final Verdict:

Fluxer isn’t a perfect Discord replacement—at least not yet. But it doesn’t need to be.

What it offers is arguably more important: choice. Transparency. Control. And a clear rejection of invasive identity verification practices that many users are no longer willing to accept.

If you’re looking for a privacy-respecting alternative to Discord, Fluxer is absolutely worth testing—just keep in mind that you’re stepping into a growing beta project, not a finished megaplatform.

Sometimes, the most interesting places on the internet are the ones still under construction.