Alt Community Online: Best Places for Goth and Emo People

Finding a good alt community online used to be easy: you picked a MySpace Top 8, joined a LiveJournal community and called it a night. Today the scene is spread across a dozen platforms, and the best spots aren't always the biggest ones. Here's where goth, emo, punk, metal and other alt people actually hang out on the internet, and how to slide in without feeling like the new kid at the party.

A quick history: where the scene used to live

If you were online in the 2000s, you remember the golden age. MySpace profiles with autoplay songs and glitter backgrounds. LiveJournal communities for every niche, from deathrock to cyber goth. VampireFreaks, which was a full-on goth and industrial social network before it shut its social side down and became a clothing store.

Those places faded, but the habits stuck around. Alt people still love sharing a song on their profile, posting outfit photos and staying up way too late in group chats. The only difference is that it all happens in new places now.

Reddit: best for deep dives and outfit feedback

Reddit is still one of the easiest places to find your corner of the scene. There are subreddits for goth fashion, emo music, post-punk, darkwave, metal, punk and pretty much every subgenre you can name. Search for your scene plus words like "style," "music" or the name of your city.

What Reddit does well:

Outfit help. Post a fit check and you'll get honest, usually kind feedback.
Music recommendations. Ask for "bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees but newer" and you'll leave with a playlist.
Local scene threads. City subreddits often have posts about goth nights, shows and meetups.

The downside is that Reddit is mostly asynchronous. It's great for conversation threads, less great for that "we're all hanging out right now" feeling.

Discord: best for real friendships

If you want online friends you actually talk to every day, Discord is hard to beat. Servers built around a band, a podcast, a YouTuber, a city scene or a broad vibe like "alt people 18+" have text channels, voice chats and music bots that play while everyone hangs out.

Tips for finding good servers:

Look for clear rules and active moderators. That's the difference between a cozy server and chaos.
Smaller servers (a few hundred people) tend to be friendlier than giant ones.
Pick a server with channels you'll actually use, like outfit pics, music sharing or a late-night chat.

Once you're in, hop into voice chat at least once. It feels awkward for about four minutes and then it's the best part.

Bluesky, Tumblr and Instagram: best for aesthetics

These are the places for photos, art and vibes.

Tumblr never fully lost its alt crowd. It's still full of goth art, whimsigoth moodboards and band edits.
Bluesky has picked up a lot of musicians, artists and scene folks who like a calmer feed. Custom feeds make it easy to follow just goth or punk posts.
Instagram is where alt models, makeup artists, tattoo artists and local club nights post. Follow your city's goth nights and you'll always know what's happening.

If you love fashion, check out our goth outfit ideas before you start posting your own fits.

TikTok: best for discovery

GothTok, EmoTok and punk TikTok are huge, and the algorithm is good at finding your people fast. It's great for makeup tutorials, thrift hauls, "types of goth" breakdowns and finding new bands. The comments sections can turn into mini communities, and a lot of creators run Discord servers or group chats for followers.

The catch is that TikTok is built for watching, not chatting. Use it to find people and ideas, then move the friendship somewhere you can actually talk.

Music sites: best for nerding out

Some of the best alt communities online are built around music itself.

Bandcamp lets you follow fans with taste like yours and see what they buy. It's an amazing way to find tiny darkwave and post-punk acts.
Last.fm still tracks what you listen to and shows people with similar taste.
Rate Your Music has deep genre lists and passionate reviewers who will happily explain the difference between coldwave and minimal wave.
Encyclopaedia Metallum (Metal Archives) is the metal community's giant database, with forums attached.

If you want to brush up first, our guide to goth music genres is a good map.

Facebook groups and Meetup: best for local scenes

Not glamorous, but useful. A lot of goth nights, punk shows and alt meetups still post events in local Facebook groups, and Meetup has groups for things like horror movie nights and cemetery walks in some cities. If you just moved, these are often the fastest way to find out where people actually go. We wrote a whole guide on how to find the alt scene in a new city.

Alt-focused apps: best for meeting people live

General platforms are great, but you always have to filter. On an app made for alt people, everyone already gets it. Alt Chat is a free Android app where goth, emo, punk, metal and grunge people meet, make friends and hang out. It has live group rooms called Night Chats, including always-open rooms like "Can't sleep" for night owls, plus rooms anyone can start for 24 hours. Every profile can have an Anthem, a song that plays when someone visits, so you can tell someone's vibe in about three seconds.

For more on live chat, check out our roundup of goth chat rooms.

How to actually fit into an online alt community

Joining is easy. Belonging takes a little effort. Here's what works:

Lurk for a day, then jump in. Get a feel for the jokes and the rules, but don't wait weeks.
Reply more than you post. Commenting on someone's outfit or song pick is the fastest way to get noticed.
Share what you love. A song, a thrift find, a horror movie rec. Enthusiasm is contagious.
Don't gatekeep. Baby bats, older goths, people who mostly listen to metal but love a lace shirt: everyone counts.
Go live. Voice chats, live rooms and group calls turn usernames into actual friends.
Stay safe. Don't share your address or financial info, and meet in public if you ever take it offline.

Pick two and commit

You don't need to be everywhere. Pick one place for discovery (TikTok, Tumblr or Instagram) and one place for real conversation (Discord, a subreddit or a live chat app). Show up regularly, be kind, and within a few weeks you'll have inside jokes with people across the world. That's the best part of the scene, online or off.

FAQ

Where do goth people hang out online?

Goths gather on Reddit, Discord servers, Bluesky, Tumblr, Instagram and TikTok, plus local Facebook groups that post club nights. Apps built for alt people, like Alt Chat, add live chat rooms and profiles where everyone already shares your taste.

Are there Discord servers for alt people?

Yes, lots. Search Discord's server discovery or sites that list servers for terms like goth, emo, post-punk or metal, and look for servers with clear rules and active moderators. Smaller servers tied to a band, a podcast or a city are often the friendliest.

What happened to old alt sites like MySpace and LiveJournal?

They faded as people moved to bigger platforms, and VampireFreaks closed its social site and now runs as a clothing store. The scene didn't disappear, though. It just spread out across Discord, Reddit, music sites and alt-focused apps.

How do I make friends in an online alt community?

Show up regularly and reply to other people's posts instead of only posting your own. Share music, compliment outfits, and join voice chats or live rooms, since real-time chat turns usernames into friends much faster.