How Speakeasy Compares

At a glance

	Speakeasy	Discord	Matrix / Element	Rocket.Chat / Mattermost	TeamSpeak / Mumble
Self-hosted	Yes — that's the point	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Self-hosting effort	Guided installer, embedded DB, auto-TLS; runs on a Windows PC	—	Server + clients + TURN; real sysadmin work for calls	Moderate; built for teams with IT	Very easy (voice only)
Discord-like UX (rooms + voice + text in one)	Yes	Yes — the benchmark	Partial	No — Slack-like	No — voice-first
Voice rooms	Yes	Yes, excellent	Via Element Call — improving	Add-on/limited	Yes, excellent latency
Screen sharing built for games	Native capture, hardware encode, multi-share viewing	Very good (best quality paywalled)	Basic	Basic (meetings-oriented)	Limited
Process-specific share audio	Yes (Windows + Linux)	Windows, app-audio share	No	No	No
Global push-to-talk (app unfocused)	Yes (Windows + Linux, incl. Wayland)	Yes	No	No	Yes
E2EE private chat	MLS; media E2EE too	No (voice/video transport-encrypted only)	Yes, mature + audited	Partial / off by default	No (chat is secondary)
Native mobile apps	Not yet (web client only)	Yes, excellent	Yes	Yes	Yes (TS) / third-party (Mumble)
Mac client	Not yet	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Federation	No — independent servers	No	Yes — its core idea	Limited	No
Enterprise features (SSO, compliance, retention)	No	Partial	Yes (commercial)	Yes — their focus	No
License	Source-available (paid hosts)	Proprietary	Open source	Open core	Proprietary / open source (Mumble)
Independent security audit	Not yet	Internal/undisclosed	Yes (E2EE audited)	Varies by deployment	No recent (Mumble historic)

When something else is the better choice

• Discord — if you don't care about self-hosting, Discord is free, polished, has flawless mobile apps, and your friends are already there. Speakeasy exists for people who want that experience without a third party in the middle.
• Matrix / Element — if you need federation, audited E2EE today, native mobile apps, or an open-source license, Matrix is the more mature choice. The trade-off is operational complexity and a voice/screen-share experience that isn't its center of gravity.
• Rocket.Chat / Mattermost — if you're a company that needs SSO, compliance exports, and Slack-style threads, use these. They aren't trying to be your gaming voice server, and Speakeasy isn't trying to be your compliance platform.
• TeamSpeak / Mumble — if you want the absolute lightest, lowest-latency voice server and nothing else, Mumble in particular is superb and truly open source. Speakeasy trades a heavier stack for chat, E2EE, screen sharing, and a modern UI.

What Speakeasy is optimized for

A gaming group, friend group, or small community that wants: voice rooms and game-grade screen sharing like Discord's, push-to-talk that works mid-game, encrypted private conversations, and a server one member runs on hardware they own — installed in an evening, not a weekend. That's the whole thesis. If that's you, the Founding Host beta is open; if it's not, one of the tools above will serve you better, genuinely.