Discord
Summary
All-in-one voice and text chat platform aimed at gamers but open source so all kinds of communities can build solutions on it.
Type of organisation: Privately-owned company (or group)
Market share: Market dominance
Pricing: Free
Factors driving pricing: Additional features
Skills needed to set-up: Software developer
Skills needed to use: Needs tool/domain expert for ongoing use
Requires audience sign-in to use: Yes, sign-in compulsory
Type of organisation: Privately-owned company (or group)
Market share: Market dominance
Pricing: Free
Factors driving pricing: Additional features
Skills needed to set-up: Software developer
Skills needed to use: Needs tool/domain expert for ongoing use
Requires audience sign-in to use: Yes, sign-in compulsory
Pros
Open Source alternatives available
Releases new features regularly
Transparent pricing model
Clear data policies
Allows data export
Allows data deletion
Lacks accessibility statement
Does not share diversity data
Cons
Newsworthy business problems - Reassessment of paid offering, Discord gains notoriety after brutal killing of NY teen
Newsworthy technical issues - Discord DOWN: Server status latest, 502 bad gateway error and Cloudflare updates, Discord was down due to Cloudflare and Verizon issues, Discord DOWN: Server status latest as team confirm Google issues
Full Product Data Collection
Data collected January-February 2020
| Product name | Discord |
| Product URL | https://discordapp.com/ |
| Parent organisation | N/A |
| Workflow category | Audience engagement & monetisation |
| Date product founded | 2012 |
| Product description | All-in-one voice and text chat platform aimed at gamers but open source so all kinds of communities can build solutions on it. |
| What type of company or organisation is the product owned by? | Privately-owned company (or group) |
| Is the company profit-making? | Cannot determine |
| How is this product funded? | Subscriptions, VC investment |
| What market share does the tool have? | Market dominance |
| Is there an Open Source alternative in this product space? | Yes. Mumble, Riot.im, Tox |
| When did the company last release new features? | October 2019: revised subscription plans |
| Have they shared details of the product roadmap? | No |
| Is there talk of the product raising further investment? | No |
| Is there talk of the product being acquired? | No |
| Have there been any newsworthy business issues or challenges in the last 12 months? | Yes. Reassessment of paid offering, Discord gains notoriety after brutal killing of NY teen |
| Is there a pricing model listed on the website? | Yes |
| How clear & transparent is this pricing model? | Very: full pricing listed |
| What is the range of prices offered? | Discord is free to develop on top of as a community discussion platform. Revenue is earned from consumer subscriptions for its gamer-focused service. |
| What factors drive higher pricing? | Additional features |
| What skills are needed to get this tool set up & usable? | Software developer |
| What skills are needed to USE this tool day-to-day? | Needs tool/domain expert for ongoing use |
| Does this tool use proprietary file formats for saving documents & outputs? | Cannot tell |
| Is the product reliant on 3rd-party APIs or interoperability to function? | No |
| Have there been any newsworthy technical issues in the last 3 years? | Yes. Discord DOWN: Server status latest, 502 bad gateway error and Cloudflare updates, Discord was down due to Cloudflare and Verizon issues, Discord DOWN: Server status latest as team confirm Google issues |
| How clear is the Terms of Service for users (i.e. publishing customers)? | Technical, legalistic TOS |
| Does the product have a data collection & usage policy on its website? (Can be a GDPR statement)? | Yes, comprehensive. |
| Is their data policy “GDPR everywhere”? | Yes, GDPR compliant globally |
| Does the product require your audience to sign-in to use it? | Yes, sign-in compulsory |
| IF SIGN IN REQUIRED: Does audience sign-in use 3rd party platforms? | No 3rd party auth, just a user account |
| Does the public product website mention how to export or transfer your data to another service? | Yes: Audience can data export, Yes: Export publisher metadata, Yes: Export/transfer publisher content |
| Does the public product website mention how to delete your data? | Yes: for both publisher and audience data |
| Have there been any newsworthy security breaches with this product in the last 3 years? | No |
| Does the company have an accessibility statement on its website? | No / cannot find |
| Does the company release information on the diversity of the workforce? | No |