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Discord co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy shared a video comparing the company’s new Rust-based Windows client with its current Electron app. In the clip, the new client loads its friends list sooner and reports 290.2 MB of RAM while running two accounts, but Discord has not published a controlled, like-for-like benchmark.
Discord co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy shared a video comparing the company’s new Rust-based Windows client with its existing Electron app, showing the new version loading a friends list sooner and reporting 290.2 MB of RAM while two accounts were signed in. The demonstration suggests a potential performance improvement for Windows users, but it is a short, company-shared comparison rather than a published controlled benchmark.
In the clip, two Discord clients launch on Windows 11 Lenovo ThinkPads. Windows Latest reported that the current Electron app was opened first and showed a blank window for about three seconds before displaying a startup tip. The Rust client was launched roughly a second and a half later, and its window appeared in under a second. By the time the older client reached its interface, the new one had loaded its friends list.
Discord employees said both applications were started from a cold launch, rather than the new client being opened from the system tray. Vishnevskiy said the new client’s reported 290.2 MB memory use included two accounts running concurrently. The figure is a snapshot from an early build, not a head-to-head measurement under disclosed, identical conditions.
Discord is building the desktop app with Rust and GPUI, a GPU-accelerated interface framework from the makers of the Zed code editor, rather than Electron. The company has also said the new client updates in the background, avoiding the startup screen shown by the current app. A Discord employee said the client does not currently use Microsoft Store or Windows Update Orchestration Platform for those updates.
What a Faster Discord Could Change
If the performance shown in the demo holds up in broader testing, a quicker launch and lower memory use could make Discord less burdensome on PCs where users keep several apps open or run games alongside chat. Running two accounts at once with the reported memory footprint could also benefit people who separate work and personal accounts.
The demonstration also gives a concrete example of why an app maker might replace a web-based desktop framework with a native-oriented approach. It does not establish that Electron apps generally perform poorly, or that every Windows app should abandon Electron. Results depend on each application’s design, features and implementation, and this clip cannot settle that broader debate.
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Discord’s Shift Beyond Electron
Discord’s current desktop app uses Electron, which combines Chromium and Node.js to run a desktop interface built with web technologies. Discord has previously tried performance work within that framework: its September patch notes said an upgrade to Electron 42 cut median CPU use by about 17%, alongside a roughly 4% increase in median memory use.
The new client uses GPUI to draw its interface without HTML, according to the report, while Rust handles the application code. Discord has used Rust since 2018. The report distinguishes this from Tauri, another Rust-related desktop framework that uses HTML, CSS and JavaScript inside the operating system’s webview; Discord’s new client is described as using GPUI instead.
Memory figures need care. A Discord employee said in December 2025 that normal use was under 1 GB, while Windows Latest said its own PCs commonly showed the Electron app idling at 1–2 GB. Those observations use different conditions and do not amount to a direct comparison with the early Rust build.
“The new Discord client using less RAM is just part of the story. Clicking around feels instant, I can’t go back. Check out the boot time.”
— Stanislav Vishnevskiy, Discord co-founder and CTO
What the Demo Cannot Establish
Discord has not supplied a like-for-like benchmark comparing the Electron and Rust clients under the same workload, hardware conditions and measurement process. The reported memory figure comes from one early-build snapshot, and the video does not establish how performance varies across PCs, longer sessions or different account and server configurations.
The company has not specified when the new Windows client will be generally available, whether it will replace the existing client for all users, or whether the reported performance will persist as development continues. The video also does not show a broad test of CPU use, battery impact, feature compatibility or reliability.
Awaiting Release and Direct Tests
The next useful evidence will be a wider release or hands-on testing that measures both clients on the same hardware with matching accounts and workloads. That would help establish whether the startup and memory differences in the video are repeatable and whether they come with trade-offs in features or stability.
Discord has not announced a release date in the material cited here. Until it does, the Rust client’s status, availability and final performance remain open questions; the demonstration shows an early comparison, not a completed migration for all Windows users.
Key Questions
What did Discord demonstrate?
Discord leaders shared a video in which a new Rust-based Windows client appeared to load its friends list sooner than the current Electron app. The new client also showed 290.2 MB of RAM use while two accounts were signed in.
Is the 290.2 MB figure a controlled comparison?
No. It is a snapshot from an early build, and Discord has not published a matched benchmark comparing the two clients under identical conditions.
Why is Discord moving away from Electron?
The new client uses Rust and GPUI, which Discord describes through the reported demonstration as a different architecture. The video shows faster apparent startup and lower reported memory use in that instance, but it does not prove that Electron is unsuitable for other apps.
Can the new client run more than one Discord account?
Vishnevskiy said it can run two accounts concurrently, and the reported 290.2 MB figure included two signed-in accounts. The source material does not provide broader performance testing for other account configurations.
When will the Rust client be released?
Discord has not given a general release date in the cited material. The video shows the client running, but its availability to all Windows users remains unclear.
Source: windowslatest.com
