mssgs, a European alternative to Discord and Snapchat.
mssgs is a group chat for friends, clans and study groups, made by RUAL in Brummen, the Netherlands. Servers, channels and voice as on Discord, stories and disappearing messages as on Snapchat, hosted in the Netherlands and free of ads.
What you know from Discord is in there.
Your group gets its own server with unlimited channels, public or private. Roles and user groups decide who sees what and who gets in. Voice and video calls work in channels and in DMs, with camera and screen sharing.
DMs are off by default: anyone who wants to message you sends a request first, which you accept or decline. Nine games come with every server for free, including Four in a Row, Battleship, Checkers and Memory, and an invite lands right in the conversation.
What you know from Snapchat is in there too.
- Stories with filters that stay up for 24 hours by default, from your friends, with no algorithm in between
- Ghost Mode: your messages disappear for everyone as soon as they are read
- Photos that can be viewed once
- Your live location on a map, shared with exactly the people you pick
- Chats that lock behind your fingerprint
The difference is where your conversations live.
mssgs runs on servers in the Netherlands, with a Dutch hosting provider. Your data never leaves Europe and no American cloud provider is involved. Discord and Snapchat are American companies and fall under American law, including the CLOUD Act.
One-to-one chats are end-to-end encrypted with the Signal protocol, so not even we can read them. Channel messages are stored encrypted (AES-256) but are not end-to-end encrypted. On Discord, voice and video calls are end-to-end encrypted and text messages are not.
No ads, no tracking.
There are no ads in mssgs, you are not tracked, and your messages are never used to train AI. Snap earns most of its revenue from advertising and fills the space between your friends with Spotlight and Discover. Discord shows sponsored Quests.
Who is behind it.
mssgs is built by RUAL, a Dutch software company from Brummen with more than 15 years of experience: an existing, profitable company, without venture capital. mssgs runs on Core, the same platform we build business software on for our customers.
Where Discord or Snapchat fits better.
If you are after a public community with thousands of members who do not know each other, Discord is built for that scale, with a large range of bots. mssgs is made for groups that do know each other: your friends, your clan, your study group.
The strongest argument for Snapchat is that everyone is already on it. Switching only works if your group comes along. In mssgs you invite them with one link, on phone or desktop.
The comparison at a glance.
The Discord and Snapchat details were checked in September 2026. Those services change, so check their own terms when in doubt.
mssgs, Discord and Snapchat side by side
| Aspect | mssgs | Discord | Snapchat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | RUAL, Brummen (Netherlands) | Discord Inc., San Francisco (US) | Snap Inc., Santa Monica (US) |
| Law and hosting | Dutch hosting, data stays in Europe | American company, falls under the CLOUD Act | American company, falls under the CLOUD Act |
| Ads | None | Sponsored Quests | Yes, the business model |
| End-to-end encryption | One-to-one chats (Signal protocol) | Voice and video, not text | Partly, per feature |
| Servers, channels and roles | Yes | Yes | No, group chats |
| Voice and video calls | Yes, with screen sharing | Yes, with screen sharing | Yes |
| Stories | Yes, 24 hours, with filters | No | Yes |
| Disappearing messages | Ghost Mode and one-view photos | No | Yes |
| Live location | Yes, with the people you pick | No | Yes, Snap Map |
| Cost | Free to start | Free, Nitro is paid | Free, Snapchat+ is paid |
Questions about switching to mssgs
Is mssgs free?
mssgs is free to start, with no credit card needed. What the paid plans cost is on the pricing page at mss.gs.
Where are my messages stored?
On servers in the Netherlands, with a Dutch hosting provider. Your data never leaves Europe and mssgs uses no American cloud providers. All stored data is encrypted with AES-256, and connections run over TLS 1.3.
Which devices does mssgs work on?
On iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux, and in your browser at mss.gs/app.
What happens to my data if I stop?
You get 30 days to export your data, in standard formats. After that, everything is permanently deleted.
What sits underneath
Our products
What RUAL builds for itself alongside custom work, on the same platform as the work we do for customers.
Hosted in Europe
All data in Europe, on our own hardware in Dutch data centres. No American cloud, no CLOUD Act.
Security built in
Security management sits inside every environment, including our own.
Bring your group over to mssgs.
Free to start, no credit card needed. One link and your group is in.