A Discord alternative for gaming communities.

Taverns is made by MEKASMITH Co., Ltd. and runs in your browser at tav.gg. A Tavern is your community. Halls are the text and voice rooms inside it. Roles, permissions, forums, events, and moderation work the way community organizers already expect.

Creating an account, making a Tavern, and joining a community are free. There is nothing to install to join, and optional extras are bought with Prisma, the in-app currency.

If you arrived looking for a tabletop tavern generator, a roleplay wiki, or a place to drink, this is a different thing. Taverns is a chat and community product for groups that gather online.

• Free to join
• Runs in your browser
• Free apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad and Android
• Text and voice halls
• End-to-end encrypted calls
• Watch parties in Stage halls

Compare Discord alternatives.

Taverns runs on Linux and the Steam Deck now. Chat with your crew from the couch, watch videos together in a Stage, and send files up to 2 GB. Free, like the rest of Taverns.

• Steam Deck

  One download in Desktop Mode, four quick moves.

• Linux PCs

  An AppImage for 64-bit Intel and AMD distros that updates itself, or apt and a .deb on Debian and Ubuntu.

• Same Taverns

  Your taverns, DMs and friends, on the account you already use.

Get it on your Steam Deck, Taverns for Linux, or watch the trailer.

Steam and Steam Deck are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Valve Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Taverns is not affiliated with or endorsed by Valve.

Taverns keeps the community patterns people already know, then makes the big stuff free: files up to 2 GB, 1080p 60fps screen share, 700 custom emoji and 1,000 stickers per tavern, and watch parties in Stage halls. Voice and video calls are end-to-end encrypted.

Discord remains the familiar choice with established reach. Taverns is for communities that want text and voice plus a home that can look distinct, watch videos together, and send big files without paying for it.

Compare Discord and Taverns or review the broader Discord alternatives guide.

• Halls and categories

  Organize text, voice, announcement, and forum spaces around the way your group gathers.

• Roles and permissions

  Control access to public rooms, private spaces, staff areas, and community routines.

• Expression and identity

  Use themes, profile backgrounds, display effects, avatar decorations, custom emoji, stickers, and GIFs.

• Shared routines

  Plan events, run polls, publish rules, and use moderation tools to run the community.

Every tavern has room for 700 custom emoji and 1,000 stickers, and you can use them in every tavern you join. No boosts. No subscription.

• 700 custom emoji and 1,000 stickers per tavern

  A Discord server starts with 100 emoji slots and 5 sticker slots. More takes paid boosts.

• Send files up to 2 GB

  Raid recordings, mod packs, the whole art folder. Drop it in chat and it sends. Discord's free limit is 20 MB. Nitro, at $9.99 a month, stops at 1 GB.

Discord figures are from Discord's own help pages, checked September 30, 2026. Server Boosting FAQ, Custom Stickers FAQ, File Attachments FAQ.

A Stage is a hall where the video is the room. Drop in a link and it plays for everyone at the same second, with your tavern’s chat right beside it.

Works with YouTube, TikTok, X posts, Vimeo, Twitch clips and plain video files.

• Paste a link, it goes On Stage

  A YouTube video, a TikTok, an X post, a Vimeo link, a Twitch clip or an mp4. The hall shows what is playing and who put it on.

• Everyone is on the same second

  One shared clock for the whole room. Join late and you land exactly where everyone else is, and when a video ends the next one starts for everybody.

• Up Next is the queue

  Anyone can add to Up Next. Vote to skip, or let a host skip outright, and scroll back through what played before you arrived.

• Chat and reactions over the picture

  The hall chat sits beside the player, bubbles float over the video, and emoji reactions fly across the screen for everyone watching.

• Pop it out and keep watching

  Pop the Stage out into its own little window and it follows you through other halls and taverns. Go fullscreen when it is time to focus.

• LIVE in the hall list

  A Stage with something playing shows LIVE in the sidebar with the title and how many are watching, so the whole tavern can drop in.

Stage halls work in your browser at tav.gg, in Taverns for Windows and Mac, and on your phone.

Taverns for OBS is a free plugin for OBS Studio 30 or newer on Windows. Sign in from the Taverns dock, pick a voice hall or a Stage, and go live to your whole tavern.

Get Taverns for OBS.

Voice, video and screen share in voice halls, DM calls and group calls are end-to-end encrypted. The keys are made on your devices, so only the people in the call can hear and see it.

• Keys made on your device

  Every call gets fresh keys on every device. Our servers only pass along sealed key messages they cannot open.

• Check the lock

  The call header says Encrypted. Tap it and everyone sees the same privacy code, so you can compare it out loud.

• New keys when someone leaves

  The moment someone drops out, the keys change for everyone still in the call.

• Wherever you call

  On tav.gg and every Taverns app: Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android.

A voice hall isn't encrypted while it's streaming to or from a third party that doesn't support end-to-end encryption.

How encrypted calls work.

The free Discord migration tool copies supported server identity, channels, categories, roles, permission mappings, custom emoji, and supported stickers into a preview. Your Discord server stays read-only and keeps running.

Members, messages, message history, webhooks, integrations, and several Discord-specific systems are not copied. A new Tavern is created only after a signed-in user reviews and confirms the preview. The private import link works for one hour, so keep it to yourself.

Open the Discord migration tool or read the guide to moving your community.