A Discord alternative that doesn't eat your RAM
On one Windows 11 machine in June 2026, idle, Discord sat at about 1.8 GB and Rift at about 250 MB. Here is the screenshot, the full process count for both, and what a single capture can't tell you.
The screenshot
One capture. Same machine, same session, both apps idle.
~250 MB
Rift, everything
16 MB native shell plus its WebView2 group
1,757 MB
Discord, everything
Eight processes, sitting idle
~7×
The gap here
Windows 11, June 2026, one session
The screenshot shows Rift's native shell at 16 MB. That line alone isn't the comparison: WebView2 runs in its own processes and belongs in Rift's total, which is why the number above says 250 MB. Your figures will vary with your machine, the Portals you keep open, whether you're in voice, and how long the app has been running. One capture on one Windows 11 machine, not a benchmark suite.
What about WebView2?
The full total, not the flattering one.
The 16 MB line is Rift's native shell. The chat itself is drawn by WebView2, the Chromium runtime Microsoft already ships with Windows. It shows up separately in Task Manager as a WebView2 Manager group and adds roughly 200 to 250 MB on top.
So the real comparison is about 250 MB for Rift against about 1.8 GB for Discord in this capture. Still roughly seven times lighter. We could have cropped the screenshot to hide that group. We'd rather you trust the next number we show you.
Why it's lighter
One process, borrowed Chromium.
Discord is an Electron app. It ships its own copy of Chromium and spins up a pile of helper processes to run it, eight in the capture above, all resident whether you're in a call or not.
Rift's desktop app is a native shell. It draws the interface with the Chromium runtime Windows already has, and it shows up in Task Manager as one line. No bundled browser, no helper zoo. That's the whole trick.
Where Discord is still ahead
Because a memory number isn't the whole decision.
Your friends are probably there already, and moving a community is work even when the import is one step. Discord's bot ecosystem is enormous. Activities and its game integrations don't exist here. And one capture is one capture: it was Windows 11 in June 2026, both apps idle, and we haven't published macOS or Linux numbers, so don't quote us on those. Under real load the gap narrows, because Rift's UI is Chromium too.
If the RAM is what's been bugging you, though, this is the fix. Everything else Rift does is on the comparison page.
See for yourself
Open Task Manager, open Rift, compare. It takes a username, a password, and about a minute.
Discord is a trademark of Discord Inc. Rift is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Discord. Numbers reflect our own testing in June 2026 and will change. If something here is wrong, email [email protected] and we'll fix it. Or just open Rift and check.