$ private group chat on open infrastructure_
Armada: encrypted,
open-source,
Discord alternative.
Servers, channels, threads, voice, and moderation: everything you expect from a chat app, fully end-to-end encrypted. Nobody can read your messages, and nobody can shut your community down.
Download on Zapstore
#general
Alex 09:42
new build is out — custom themes are live 🎨
Everything you'd expect.
If you've used Discord, you already know how to use Armada.
Text
Voice
DerekLemon
M. K.
online
Chad Today at 2:14 PM
movie night friday? I have the projector 🍿
Alex Today at 2:15 PM
I'm in. Someone bring snacks
Morgan Today at 2:17 PM
snacks handled 🫡
Online — 6
Nobody can read your chats,
not even us.
Messages are locked on your device before they're sent. Here's the same conversation with the key, and without it.
Who sent it, which community it belongs to, even the community's name: all sealed. Encryption follows the open Concord protocol, so anyone can verify it or build their own client.
A community no one can take away.
Years of memories and friendships shouldn't live or die on one company's servers. Watch what happens when things go wrong:
There's no company account to ban and no headquarters to pressure. Your community lives on many independent relays at once. Lose one, lose ten, and the conversation keeps going.
Things no other chat app can do.
no signal ✕Chat with zero internet
Phones nearby relay messages to each other over Bluetooth: at a festival, on a plane, in a blackout, or anywhere else the internet can't reach. Compatible with bitchat.
Chad · #general
nowmovie night is ON 🍿
delivered without Google
Notifications, no Google
Pings arrive straight from your community, even with the app closed. Google and third-party push services never learn who messages you.
Log in
Your key is your account.
Your identity is a key that only you hold, with no email or phone number to hand over. The same key works across every Nostr app.
Armada is early software: version 0.x, with new releases landing almost daily. Live today on web, Android, Linux, and Windows; no iOS app yet (the web app works there in the meantime). Follow the changelog.
New · Armada v0.37
Works with Buzz communities.
Buzz, Block's open-source team communication app, only ships on desktop. Armada connects to the same workspaces from the web and Android: chat channels, threaded forums, the Projects workspace, and a mentions Inbox, right alongside your other communities and DMs.
Read the announcement
Optional · for teams
Or run the whole thing yourself.
Communities are serverless by default, but if you want chat as internal infrastructure, Armada ships a complete open-source server stack. One command brings up the relay, voice server, and client on your own hardware.
- Channels, roles, moderation, and voice out of the box
- Runs air-gapped on an internal network with no outside dependency
- Standard Nostr (NIP-29) underneath: works with other clients too
$ ._
$ come say hi_
We're in there daily
Join the Soapbox community on Armada.
Team Soapbox hangs out in an end-to-end encrypted Armada community: product chat, dev talk, voice hangs, and early word on everything we ship. The invite link carries its unlock key in the URL fragment, so it never touches a server.
Frequently asked questions
Is Armada a good Discord alternative?
If you have used Discord, you already know the layout: communities, channels, threads, voice, and moderation. The difference is underneath. Every community is end-to-end encrypted, your account is a key instead of an email, and communities live on many relays at once, so no company can ban you or delete your server. Read the full comparison.
Is Armada free?
Yes. Armada is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 license, with no ads and no paid tier.
Can I be banned from Armada?
There is no company account to ban. Community owners moderate their own spaces, but no one can delete your identity or take your community down across all of its relays.
Do I need a phone number or email to sign up?
No. Signing up generates a cryptographic key, and that key is your whole account, on Armada and across every other Nostr app. How to store your key.
Does Armada work on iPhone?
There is no iOS app yet. The web app at armada.buzz works on iPhone, and native apps exist for Android, Linux, and Windows.
Is Armada ready to use?
Armada is in open beta ahead of its v1.0 release. Communities, encrypted DMs, and voice and video calls all work today, with new releases landing almost daily. Expect occasional rough edges while it matures.
Free forever
Chat like nobody's watching.
Armada is open source, built by Team Soapbox, and free for everyone, everywhere. There is no company behind your account and no server anyone can seize.
Built by Team Soapbox · Open source on ngit · Concord protocol specs · Why switch from Discord