# TeamSpeak Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/teamspeak/ 18 people recommended TeamSpeak in Hacker News comments, 12 had mixed feelings and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 12 months, in 13 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** People recommend TeamSpeak as a long-running, low-latency voice chat server for groups. The most common caveat is a limited free tier and licensing fees for larger servers. Summary written by Claude from 37 comments. ## Why people recommend it - Long-standing, well-known voice chat option (3 comments in the sample): "Teamspeak is the OG in that space and should've been the top of this list." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46961094)) "for discord emigres, teamspeak still exists" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46973148)) "TeamSpeak and Ventrillo still work great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46946503)) - Simple channels and easy setup (2 comments in the sample): "Teamspeak worked fine for me… simple channels, voice or text chat if you want" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47057556)) "mumble or teamspeak is pretty easy IMHO" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46962667)) - Low latency voice (2 comments in the sample): "TeamSpeak handled VOIP over an actual DSL connection, with DSL latency, in the 00's" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46147130)) "lower latency on teamspeak" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49311418)) - Better interface and chat rooms (2 comments in the sample): "have gotten more advanced chat room options now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47051263)) "but now it's in a nicer interface" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47055104)) ## What people warn about - Free tier user limits (3 comments in the sample): "Its in beta and you can't get more than a 32 slot server." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46960389)) "you need to email somebody for permission to have more than 32 users on your server" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947997)) "it is proprietary, supports limited numbers of users on the free tier" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47054566)) - Licensing fees and paid access (3 comments in the sample): "trialware system that required getting approval/serial code from the company every month" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46946545)) "the licensing fees for larger servers would be cost prohibitive" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47053607)) "They had cost money and weren't that great on audio quality" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50268424)) - Not a full Discord replacement (2 comments in the sample): "TeamSpeak is the closest I can think of but it's not a 1:1 replacement for a number of reasons" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46946886)) "alternatives [2] currently are nowhere near feature parity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47648374)) - Self-hosting setup and maintenance burden (2 comments in the sample): "all "installation" software with "server addresses" and "setup your user config" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46972331)) "They were difficult to maintain since you had to install your own servers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46959405)) ## Other voice chat apps people recommend - [Mumble](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mumble/): 21 recommend, 10 mixed, 11 criticize - [Ventrilo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ventrilo/): 5 recommend, 4 mixed, 5 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.teamspeak.com/en/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "TeamSpeak", https://hackerapproved.com/p/teamspeak/ (18 recommend, 12 mixed, 11 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.