Ventrilo
Ranked 3 of 3 voice chat apps by recommenders
Older voice chat program for gaming groups, still praised for working well. Critics say self-hosted servers were hard to maintain.
5 people recommended Ventrilo in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 11 comments.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- mixed feelings
- 4
- warn against or regret it
- 5
The record
Recommended in 3 of 12 months
In 5 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
- Recommended in 5 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 20% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 11 of the 14 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Used for gaming voice chat
“Vi sitter här i venten och spelar lite DotA”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Discord will soon let anyone find public server messages through Google” “TeamSpeak and Ventrillo still work great.”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Discord Launches Teen-by-Default Settings Globally” Server-based setup with addresses
“Each sidebar "server" entry should be an ACTUAL SERVER, with a unique username and connection.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Strafe: A new open-source, E2E Encrypted, and federated alternative to Discord” “all "installation" software with "server addresses" and "setup your user config”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Ex-GitHub CEO Launches a New Developer Platform for AI Agents”
Other voice chat apps people recommend
The two most recommended other voice chat apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 3 voice chat apps, rankedWhat people said
11 of the 14 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“They had cost money and weren't that great on audio quality”
“Vi sitter här i venten och spelar lite DotA”
“Each sidebar "server" entry should be an ACTUAL SERVER, with a unique username and connection.”
“patchy, hodgepodge UI's of Mumble, Ventrilo, IRC, Skype”
“Significantly better than the older alternatives like Ventrilo or TeamSpeak.”
“some of those were better than what Discord was offering for individual features”
“none of which were that great”
“all "installation" software with "server addresses" and "setup your user config”
“you didn't have to pass around your teamspeak/ventrillo information to every rando you wanted to play with”
“They were difficult to maintain since you had to install your own servers.”
“TeamSpeak and Ventrillo still work great.”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.