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Discord vs WhatsApp
March 12, 2025 | Author: Adam Levine
18★
Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".
27★
WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. WhatsApp Messenger is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia and yes, those phones can all message each other! Because WhatsApp Messenger uses the same internet data plan that you use for email and web browsing, there is no cost to message and stay in touch with your friends.
Imagine, if you will, two highly advanced messaging platforms, both capable of transmitting words, sounds and pictures across vast digital landscapes. They each allow humans to form groups, send memes and discuss everything from astrophysics to what they had for lunch. Both are available on little glowing rectangles in pockets and larger glowing rectangles on desks and both make a fine job of letting people talk to each other without actually needing to see or smell them. In short, they serve the same essential purpose—keeping people connected while ensuring they remain blissfully apart.
One of these, Discord, was born in 2015 in the United States, an era when gamers needed a place to strategize without yelling over one another in the living room. Instead of mere chatrooms, it invented servers, sprawling digital fortresses filled with channels where people could lurk in voice calls indefinitely without actually committing to a conversation. It also welcomed bots—mechanical entities designed to do everything from playing music to reminding users that they are, in fact, supposed to be working. It thrives on complexity, rewarding those who enjoy pressing many buttons to achieve very specific forms of communication.
The other, WhatsApp, is the no-nonsense child of 2009, also from the United States, back when people still thought paying per text message was a reasonable thing to do. Unlike its sprawling, feature-stuffed cousin, WhatsApp insists on simplicity. It ties itself to a user’s phone number like a particularly loyal golden retriever, ensuring that messages are sent swiftly, efficiently and with as little fuss as possible. No servers, no voice channels, no lurking—just direct, linear conversations, like letters that arrive instantly but without the charm of a handwritten note. It’s the communication tool of choice for anyone who believes that the best kind of app is the one that doesn’t require a tutorial.
See also: Top 10 Business Messaging platforms
One of these, Discord, was born in 2015 in the United States, an era when gamers needed a place to strategize without yelling over one another in the living room. Instead of mere chatrooms, it invented servers, sprawling digital fortresses filled with channels where people could lurk in voice calls indefinitely without actually committing to a conversation. It also welcomed bots—mechanical entities designed to do everything from playing music to reminding users that they are, in fact, supposed to be working. It thrives on complexity, rewarding those who enjoy pressing many buttons to achieve very specific forms of communication.
The other, WhatsApp, is the no-nonsense child of 2009, also from the United States, back when people still thought paying per text message was a reasonable thing to do. Unlike its sprawling, feature-stuffed cousin, WhatsApp insists on simplicity. It ties itself to a user’s phone number like a particularly loyal golden retriever, ensuring that messages are sent swiftly, efficiently and with as little fuss as possible. No servers, no voice channels, no lurking—just direct, linear conversations, like letters that arrive instantly but without the charm of a handwritten note. It’s the communication tool of choice for anyone who believes that the best kind of app is the one that doesn’t require a tutorial.
See also: Top 10 Business Messaging platforms
