Comparisons

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Discourse

Commune is heavily inspired by Discourse. There are two key differentiators:

• Discourse is forum-first rather than chat-first. This has major implications on grassroots traction and ease-of-use. (See "Duality of (A)synchronicity" in Communal Bonfires.)
• Discourse is not built on top of a protocol. Commune is built on top of Matrix, connecting it to a network of 10m users.

Discord

The general user experience of Commune is modeled after Discord since it's the most widely used group messenger in the world with a considerably better onboarding experience than standard Matrix.

Key differentiators:

• Discord is not web-public, i.e. linkable and conducive to collaborative content gardening.
• Discord is closed source and highly prone to "enshittification".
• Discord is not federated, greatly limiting the ability for different servers/rooms to interact and cross-pollinate.

The pros and cons of Discourse and Discord are covered in great detail in the Communal Bonfires blog post.

Linen

Linen.dev is to Discord/Slack what Commune is to Matrix.

Key differentiators:

• Not based on an interoperability protocol
• Not part of a network.

Element

Key differentiators:

• Element is not web-public by default; users need to log in to see the contents of a room. There is a WIP solution to this: https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-viewer
  ..However, it's on hold to not break with privacy expectations of the default Matrix experience. Commune solves this by being public-first as a default, like a web forum. We do intend to collaborate with the matrix-viewer team wherever possible, as we have many goals in common.

• Element is encrypted by default, which comes with some setup challenges that excludes regular internet users. Commune is eventually-encrypted, opting instead to prioritize for first-contact connectivity and reliable message delivery.

Gitter

The first MVP of Commune will be very similar to Gitter.

Key differentiators:

• Commune aims to be a massively-multiplayer digital garden.
• More client polish (the client experience is our top priority)
• Commune will have turnkey two-way bridge with Discord, taking higher priority than GitHub integration.

The first form Commune will take will be that of a 'Gitter competitor'. But we are friendly with the core Matrix team and we expect this to be mutually beneficial for both parties; Commune is built on top of the Matrix protocol after all.