Not using any browser that isn’t open source.

It’s not meant to be selfhosted.

https://github.com/revoltchat/self-hosted

it’s not federated

I’ll agree on that one. Though the FAQ says that it is not on their future roadmap, but is possible. https://developers.revolt.chat/faq.html

The developer seems very shady

Why?

https://revolt.chat/

FOSS alternative that looks and feels the same.