Discord vs Twitch: Which is better?

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In the beginning, there weren’t many voice-chat platforms that were available to us. Breaking this barrier, Teamspeak was released, following which other voice-chat applications such as Skype, Mumble Ventrilo were released one after the other. But as time passed, all these applications were consciously sidelined with the release of Discord. What was once dominated by Teamspeak, Mumble, and Skype, the voice-chat application, was soon under the dominance.

Ever since the release of Twitch back in 2011, the two companies have been at loggerheads when it comes to being the best voice-chat application. While each of these apps comes equipped with its unique set of features, choosing the better amongst the two is formidable. Twitch makes it easy for you to discover and join new channels and find regular streamers. At the same time, Discord keeps you in the loop about what your friends are doing and everything going on across different servers and channels.

Just like this, there are plenty of other things to differentiate. However, adjourning either platform as the better one is challenging. As a result, we have laid down the detailed specifications that separate the two in this article.

Discord

Launched in July 2015, Discord is one of the most popular and widely used chat-oriented applications. The app allows you to talk with your friends via text, voice, audio, and even video. Discord is a means through which you can stay close with your friends and communicate easily when playing together.

The app works well on PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. There are dedicated Discord apps on each platform for chatting and calling on the go. What makes Discord so popular are the streams, community engagement, and user-friendly interface, all combined under a single bracket. Discord offers free VoIP, text, and video chat servers and unique features for gamers.

Twitch

Twitch is one of the world’s leading live-streaming platforms, which makes it perfect for gamers worldwide. Streamers can design their channel by adding personal Twitch alert sounds and overlays. This American live-streaming service primarily focuses on video-game streaming which includes broadcasts of the International Esports Championships.

Twitch makes it easy for you to discover and join new channels and find regular streamers. People suggest getting growth service. However, don’t take service from cheap provider like Streambot as concerned people say that Streambot is not safe to use to grow followers. This feature is not available on Discord. Watching videos and broadcasts on Twitch is free, and you don’t need to log in for the same as well.

Here, you can find channels and streamers that have their own gaming community. This gives everyone a chance to bond with like-minded people and watch every stream they want for free. Millions of professional gamers stream their live game action, which in turn is spectated by millions of users.

Discord Vs. Twitch

While there may be nothing on paper that separates the two behemoths, there are a few things based on which these two applications can be differentiated.

1. User Interface

Both these applications stand out because of their easy yet customizable interface. Both Twitch and Discord have a user interface loaded with dozens of features and have an effortless operation. It is easy to find, discover, and join new channels on both Discord and Twitch.

While Twitch makes it easy to find and join new channels instantly, Discord’s interface keeps you in the loop about everything your friends are doing, along with the activities taking place across servers and channels.

Similarly, if you do not like the existing Interface, Discord provides you options to customize your interface appearance. Twitch has everything you need on its homepage and won’t have you looking around for things you need to watch.

2. Chat

When it comes to chatting, Discord outperforms Twitch. Launched initially as a chat-oriented application, Discord has kept up with that reputation by maintaining a mature and explicit communication structure. It comprises different rooms and server channels, with each room having various fields such as music and streaming.

Taking a page of Discord’s playbook, Twitch has channels for you to explore. Twitch is more advanced in live streaming rather than communication. However, discord chats are better as you can send videos on discord and not on Twitch.

Meanwhile, Twitch’s new Whisper feature lets you communicate privately with any user via messages. Whispering on twitch opens a private window for the two of you to chat. Using this feature, you can chat with your friends even if they are watching different streams than you at that time.

3. Audio and Video Call

Both Twitch and Discord have additional support to audio and video calls. However, Twitch mobile applications do not have this feature as of now. Meanwhile, Discord has had this feature for quite a long time now, and audio/video calling using Discord is quite convenient compared to Twitch.

Twitch is yet to get a firm grip over the audio and video calling feature. But when it comes to audio and video calling, Discord holds a sizeable advantage over Twitch.

4. Subscription

Twitch is your best option for making money out of live-streaming sessions. Unfortunately, this is where Discord falls short as the app doesn’t have an option that lets users make money using Discord.

With Twitch, you can affiliate links to your live gaming sessions or any other product to make your product knowledgeable and notify users about the same. Each deal will result in a commission for you. On the contrary, Discord offers no features that allow users to earn money with the app. However, the ones who enjoy your server can pay to boost your server.

5. Encryption

Both these applications have strong policies regarding data security and provide excellent features to maintain the same. Discord uses SSL and voice encryption using Libsodium, a portable and easy encryption technology available on GitHub. However, the majority of the users have reported lapses in Discord’s security encryption.

Though Discord may not have a foolproof encryption system, Twitch is no different. It seems like this feature is omitted from both these applications, and the users aren’t happy about it.

6. Privacy

Discord has been under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons when it comes to privacy settings. This is because Discord’s agreement reads that it will share every information a user shares with Discord with the relative companies, which can then be used to contact you.

Meanwhile, Twitch’s privacy policy reads that the company may share a client’s detail with the US Government and advertisers for them to display the relevant ads. Both Twitch and Discord will share your data with law enforcement agencies and advertisers where they deem so fit. Therefore, we urge you to go through both these apps’ privacy policy pages at least once.

Final Words

We hope our article could successfully walk you through everything that separates these two applications. While these applications may not be differentiable on paper, there are pretty few features that separate the two.

For example, if you are looking to make money out of your live streaming sessions, Twitch is the right platform. Similarly, if you want all your channels neatly organized inside a server, Discord will do it for you. In the end, choosing between Twitch and Discord will primarily depend on the people/channels you want to follow.