@al1r4d Matrix is an impressive protocol that has done a lot of interesting research. The low data usage experiments were quite promising.

XMPP is equally impressive as it has transformed from just early pre IoT communication and controls into a robust protocol for people to communicate with.

I really like both and I am eager to see how they evolve as time goes on.

Oh yeah, your question. XMPP requires a server while services like Element offer easy setup and payed or unpaid hosting. It's not ideal to do this but it's better than Discord. It comes down to ease of setup and management.