Spokes

Spokes is a private, self-hosted text, voice, and video chat platform designed as a complete Discord alternative for friend groups, families, and small teams who want 100% data ownership. Mainstream chat apps like Discord and Slack harvest your conversations, photos, and metadata on third-party clouds. Meanwhile, existing self-hosted alternatives (like Matrix/Element or Mattermost) either feel like sterile corporate tools or require maintaining a stack of 5+ separate containers, external databases, and complex TURN/voice servers. Spokes packages an entire modern communication suite into a single Docker container that deploys in minutes on Docker, Unraid, TrueNAS, CasaOS, Portainer, Coolify, or DigitalOcean. Zero external databases or external media servers required. KEY FEATURES: • Single-Container Deployment: Chat server, database, built-in identity provider (Casdoor + full OIDC/SSO support), and LiveKit voice/video server all run out of the box in one container. • Crystal-Clear Voice & Video: Low-latency audio and video channels hosted directly on your hardware, featuring built-in noise cancellation. • Built for Friends & Families: Organized text channels, private DMs, shared Photo Albums for preserving group memories, a built-in Event Calendar, and Klippy GIF integration. • Native Cross-Platform Apps: Connect from anywhere with free native iOS and Android mobile apps, Windows/macOS/Linux desktop apps, and full Web/PWA support. • End-to-End Privacy: Optional encrypted Secure Channels (protected even from the server admin) and encrypted mobile push notification payloads so Apple and Google can never read your messages. PRICING: The Spokes server and all client apps are free forever with unlimited users, unlimited channels, web/PWA notifications, and a 2-month free trial of native mobile push notifications. An optional Spokes Pass ($45/year per server, regardless of user count) unlocks native iOS/Android push notifications and funds independent development.