Platform · Side by side
How other community apps do it. And how we do it.
Most platforms treat your account as something they can take away. We treat it as something you own. Here is the difference, side by side: what happens when you get banned, who can read your messages, what stays free, and who is actually building the thing.
The same questions. Two answers.
Down the left, the pattern you are probably used to. Down the right, how Vronify.chat does it.
Bans still mean bans. If you break the guidelines you lose the ability to participate. The difference is that losing access to a community never means losing control over your own data.
The idea behind the table.
One principle explains every row: your account belongs to you.
Most of the differences above are not features. They are policy choices. When a platform decides that a ban erases your history, that it will read your private messages, or that your account was never really yours, it is deciding who the account really belongs to. We made the opposite decisions, on purpose, and we wrote them down where you can hold us to them.
We wrote down what that means in practice on the account ownership page, and the full details live in the privacy policy. If you mostly care about your private conversations, start with private DMs.
Ownership is a default, not a reward
On most platforms, you keep your data for as long as you stay in good standing. Ownership is conditional on behavior, and the condition is enforced by locking you out of everything at once. We flipped that default. Your messages are yours whether you are in good standing or not. A ban ends participation, and only participation. You can delete your account at any time, which anonymizes it. And you can export your data any time, without asking permission first.
Privacy with one honest carve-out
Direct messages are private: in the app, only the people in the conversation see them, and as a matter of policy we don't read private conversations. Community channels are different, and we are upfront about why. They are shared spaces, and moderators need to see them to keep them safe. So channels are visible to their community and its moderators, while DMs stay private between the people in them. What never changes across both: we never sell data, never show ads, never read private conversations, and never hold your data hostage.
Why we do not name names
The left column describes patterns that repeat across large community platforms, not the fine print of one specific competitor. Policies change, screenshots age, and a comparison built on last year's terms of service would mislead you. So we describe the pattern, and we invite you to verify both sides yourself: read any platform's current policies, then read ours. Ours are short enough that you actually can.
Row by row, in plain language.
The table is the summary. Here is what each row means in practice, with the page to read if you want the full story.
Bans and your account
A ban is a participation decision, not a data decision. You lose the ability to post in the community that banned you. You keep your account, every message you ever sent, and the DMs you received, unless the sender removed them.
How ownership worksDeleting your account
Delete your account at any time, and it is anonymized: your name and profile are removed, and the messages you sent stay in their conversations attributed to a deleted user. And because you can export your data any time, leaving never has to mean losing.
Privacy at VronifyPrivate conversations
DMs are private: only the people in the conversation see them, and we don't read private conversations. Community channels are visible to their community and its moderators instead, because shared spaces need people who can keep them safe. Two kinds of spaces, two honest rules.
How private DMs workEverything built in
Real-time messaging with edits, replies, reactions, and read receipts. Voice channels. Categories, custom emoji, server tags, pinned messages, polls, threads, bookmarks, per-server nicknames, and an Explore page for finding communities.
See all featuresSpeed you can verify
Under 40ms median message delivery in Europe, 99.9% uptime across the last 12 months, and a single server that holds 50k+ members. It runs on hardware we own and tune ourselves, not a rented stack we hope behaves.
See the performance pageModeration that scales
Roles and permissions decide who can do what. The audit log records every staff action. Slow mode calms a channel that is moving too fast, and automated filters catch the obvious problems before a human has to.
Explore moderation toolsMoving a community without losing anyone.
Comparisons only matter if switching is realistic. It is. Here is the low-drama way to do it.
Create the server first
Set it up before you announce anything. It takes under a minute in the browser, and there is nothing for you or your members to install. Get the shape of the place right while nobody is watching yet.
Rebuild the structure, smaller
Recreate your categories and channels, but resist copying every channel you had. Communities move better into a tighter space where every channel is alive. Set up roles and permissions before the crowd arrives, not after.
Set the tone before the rush
Pin a welcome message, switch on slow mode where you expect a flood, and configure automated filters. The first day sets the culture. Let the defaults do that work so your moderators do not have to.
Invite with one link
Every invite is a single link that opens in the browser. No download, no account wall before people can see the place is real. Post it where your community already lives, and the curious can look around in seconds.
Run both in parallel, then commit
Keep the old space open for a while and mirror announcements in both. Watch where daily conversation actually settles. When the new server carries the chatter on its own, set a date, say it clearly, and close the loop.
The rows you can measure.
Anyone can write themselves a flattering table. These four numbers are checkable claims, not adjectives.
Honest about the trade-offs.
A comparison page you can trust has to include the rows we do not win. Here they are, next to the ones we do.
What we promise
- A ban never takes your account, your messages, or the DMs you received
- You can delete your account at any time, which anonymizes it
- DMs stay private, and we don't read private conversations
- No ads, no trackers, no data brokers, and no selling data, ever
- Core features stay free forever, with no surprise paywalls
What we do not claim
- Community channels are not private: they are visible to their community and its moderators, who keep shared spaces safe
- Third-party bots are not supported: our built-in bot engine is coming soon instead
- Mobile and desktop apps are still coming: today Vronify.chat is browser-first, on any device
- We are a small team: we ship steadily every week, not everything at once
Questions people ask about this page.
Why does the table say "other platforms" instead of naming apps?
Because the left column describes patterns that repeat across large community platforms: bans that lock your history away, DMs stored in readable form, features drifting behind subscriptions. Naming one company would tie the page to their policy of the week, and policies change faster than pages. We would rather describe the pattern honestly and let you verify both sides. Read any platform's current terms yourself, then hold us to ours and to the privacy policy.
Does a ban really leave my account untouched?
Yes. A ban ends your ability to participate in the community that banned you, nothing more. You keep your account, every message you ever sent, and the DMs you received, unless the sender removed them. Bans still mean bans, and breaking the guidelines still has consequences. The consequence is losing access to a space, not losing your data. The full mechanics are on the account ownership page.
If DMs are private, why are community channels not?
Because they are different kinds of spaces. A DM is a private conversation between the people in it, so only they see it and we don't read it. A community channel is a shared space where moderators are responsible for safety, so it stays visible to the people running the server. Making channels private would sound good on this page and make safe communities impossible in practice. The details live on private DMs and moderation tools.
What actually happens when I delete my data?
Deleting your account anonymizes it: your name and profile are removed, and the messages you sent stay in their conversations attributed to a deleted user. Community channels keep only a bounded window of recent messages. If you want a copy first, export your data any time, whether or not you are leaving. The privacy policy spells out exactly what is stored and what deletion covers.
What is free, and what will cost money later?
Core features are free forever: messaging, voice channels, roles and permissions, moderation, customization, discovery, all of it. Optional extras for power users will come later. What we will not do is the move this whole page complains about: shipping something free, letting your community depend on it, and then pulling it behind a paywall.
Is there a mobile or desktop app?
The browser version is available now and works on phones, tablets, and desktops with nothing to install. A mobile app for iOS and Android and a desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux are coming soon. Watch the changelog for release announcements.
What about bots and automation?
We do not run third-party bot code inside servers, and that is deliberate: no external party can read your channels or take your automation offline. Instead, a built-in bot engine is coming soon, with welcome cards, custom commands, reaction roles, leveling, and tickets, running on our infrastructure with nothing for you to host.
How do I actually move my community over?
Create the server, rebuild a tighter version of your structure, set your moderation defaults, and invite everyone with one link. Then run both spaces in parallel until conversation clearly settles here. The step-by-step version is above on this page, and the owner handbook goes deeper on running the new place well.
Your community. Your rules. Your data.
Create a server, invite your people, and see what chat feels like when your account actually belongs to you.
Free to start. Live in under a minute. No install required.