Telegram vs Discord: What are They, What Are The Advantages, The Differences Between The Platforms

ICODA Agency
8 min readAug 25, 2022

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At the moment, there are numerous online communication platforms on the market. Among them, the leading positions are taken by 2. These are Telegram and Discord.

Telegram vs Discord: What is it?

Telegram is an instant messaging system with VoIP capabilities. It allows the exchange of text, voice, video messages, images, and files of different formats. It was launched in 2013 by Nikolai and Pavel Durov. The instant messaging platform allows companies and individuals to send their messages in various forms to multiple users around the world.

Developing Telegram as a Secure Messaging App

Existing communication apps are inferior to Telegram in popularity. Last year, this messenger was able to reach about 700 million users per month. This popularity is largely due to WhatsApp’s new policy and the inclusion of a large number of additional features that are constantly being added to the platform.

What Is Discord and Its Creation

Discord, on the other hand, is a proprietary instant messaging system with VoIP and video conferencing support. It is used by a variety of communities of interest. Discord is considered the most popular among students and gamers.

It was invented by Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevsky. Discord was launched in the spring of 2015. The gaming community of games such as Diablo and World of Warcraft on Reddit enthusiastically embraced the appearance of such an app. For now, the platform has changed its advertising brand. It’s now called Chat for Community and Friends. It used to have a different name, “Chat for Gamers.”

Users use both of the above platforms for their own purposes: communication, sharing information through channels, and so on. Discord and Telegram have their own advantages and key features that influence the choice of customers.

Telegram: Key Advantages

Telegram allows the instant exchange of personal messages between clients. There are no intermediaries. The platform supports files that can be up to 2GB in size. Telegram’s API is available to any developer. The open-source code can be viewed and used for its own applications. In addition, Telegram allows the creation of themed channels where users can communicate with each other on predetermined topics.

The platform’s clients can also quickly launch their own channel and create a group of interests. It is possible to automate the work using bots. There is no need to create separate applications.

The classic version of Telegram is open to every user and allows you to create channels, groups, and bots for communication, a secret chat only for access by key.

There are versions for all your devices — smartphones (mobile apps) and PC (telegram app to PC). It is also easy to use Telegram as a means of communication in the team — team communication, voice channels, group calls, text messages for channels and users separately, as well as the ability to delete messages, screen sharing, and important messages — all these options make Telegram easy and convenient, and security standards ensure the safety of your correspondence.

Telegram Premium

Now, Telegram has taken out a paid subscription to the app — Telegram Premium. For a $5.99 per month subscription, users get at their disposal the extended functionality of the platform. In particular:

  • Sending files of up to 4 GB in size and the maximum possible file download;
  • Allowed subscription for up to 1000 channels, creation of up to 20 chat folders and assignment of up to 10 chats at the same time;
  • Voice-to-text conversion;
  • Unique stickers and reactions;
  • User profile animations;
  • Premium mark for paid messenger accounts;
  • No ads at all.

These are the key advantages of this world-renowned messenger.

Discord: The Main Advantages

Discord has extremely low system requirements compared to other messengers. It can work even on those PCs that have a very weak CPU. Does not have a serious impact on the performance of your PC. Discord is very convenient for the gaming environment because, from the very beginning, it was created for fans of games. The application can be downloaded for free from the developer’s website. It is not difficult to set it up, even for a novice user.

Application Differences

Discord is cross-platform — that is, it is supported on all known operating systems and mobile platforms. Clients can communicate through it both on PCs and on their smartphones.

Discord offers advanced permissions for channels, and server owners have the right to create bots. You can use them to perform a variety of channel tasks. Discord shows all users on the server. If a client doesn’t want to read the messages, you can ask Discord to read them.

Channels can be created by anyone, on any server, for the contact between members. The servers have rules that allow for regulating the communication between the participants. Thus, Discord is rightfully considered a convenient and advanced application for communication.

How Many Users Does Discord Have?

In addition, it is worth noting support for a large number of languages, an intuitive interface, and the absence of intrusive advertising content. The application, unlike others, has an increased group limit. In a group, you can invite up to 500,000 users. You are also allowed to edit messages. These are the main advantages of Discord.

Let’s look at the key differences between Telegram and Discord.

Discord vs Telegram: How They Differ in Terms of Security

The security parameter is now the defining one for many users. It is believed that Telegram and Discord, in terms of security, are more reliable than other messengers.

Security is an Important Parameter

Indeed, both platforms do not deal with the transfer of data to third parties to guarantee privacy to a certain extent.

There are certain differences between them in security parameters.

In particular, Discord does not use end-to-end encryption for messages. Strange as it may seem, WhatsApp, criticized for its weak security, has end-to-end encryption!

Nevertheless, the user can still provide some security for himself. It is possible to manage permissions for other participants in the channel so that only a certain circle of people can have access to it. You can also set up a private server, and it is much more secure than a public server.

Security experts believe that, in theory, an application could access the content of a message if there were a need for it. This nuance should be taken into account.

On its own, Telegram also does not use end-to-end encryption. The exception is secret chats. However, cybersecurity experts believe that Telegram has better security than Discord. The secret chats in Telegram will also be a security plus.

But neither Discord nor Telegram can be called a completely secure application. However, the same can be said about other messengers.

Discord and Telegram: The Differences in The Interface

There are no special and significant differences in the interfaces of the applications. Each of them has an intuitive interface. Any of the users can easily configure them. However, as noted by those who have used both messengers, there are some differences.

For example, the interface of Telegram is visually perceived the same easier. You can see each active chat on the screen and click on any of them to view the conversation.

Without unnecessary manipulation, it’s possible to view contact lists and change them at will. It’s also easy to start any group chats by adding new users.

And Discord interface is more oriented toward gamers and representatives of technological subcultures who know about modern technologies. In a way, the interface of Discord is reminiscent of the well-known gamers Slack.

Therefore, the visual interfaces of Telegram and Discord have stylistic differences. Although they are not decisive when choosing one application or another. More differences are observed in terms of group communication.

Discord vs Telegram: Group Communication

As indicated earlier, both messengers allow the creation of groups and channels. It is in them that the communication between the participants unfolds. In Discord, the main role belongs to the servers.

The user must either create his own or join another server to communicate with the other participants. Each server has different channels, and all of them are dedicated to a particular subject.

For example, if the user has decided to join a server that is designed for multiplayer games, he will be able to see many other channels dedicated to tournaments, knowledge, and new tricks related to game topics.

The user is allowed to become a member of no more than 100 servers. Each of them can be up to half a million active participants.

You can also set up a private server, where you can also have conversations with colleagues and acquaintances on topics of interest to the group. No unauthorized persons will be able to enter the private server.

Even More Differences

In contrast to Discord, Telegram communicates between participants in group chats. You can create your own or receive invitations from friends to an existing chat room.

Telegram, too, has channels, but, unlike Discord channels, the owner’s messages are viewable, but it is impossible to participate in the discussion.

Telegram and Discord: Differences in Corporate Functions

Discord is good for ordinary team chats and voice communication in the company’s department. But group chat in Discord is limited to no more than 15 people. You’re allowed to publish files that are no larger than 8 MB. There are paid subscriptions to Nitro and Nitro Classic, where you can customize emotions and upload larger files.

A Telegram Winner?

Telegram has more options in this regard. You can add several hundred thousand participants to the chat and transfer files that are up to 2 GB in size. With a paid subscription, the volume of files that can be transferred increases to 4 GB. In this regard, Telegram has a more favorable position.

Conclusion

To sum it up, we can say that both of these platforms have their features and advantages. The user can use one or both at once, based on their preferences and specifics of work.

At the moment, despite a number of minor drawbacks, Telegram and Discord are the most popular messengers in the world, especially within the crypto industry, and the audience of which is constantly growing.

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