There have been Couchsurfing alternatives for years and years. BeWelcome is a registered non-profit in France that has been around since ~2008, while Trustroots (also a registered non-profit) was founded in 2014 to provide a site whose web infrastructure could develop more quickly through hackathons, and would be more friendly to alternative travelers like hitchhikers.
The only reason some people saw a need for Couchers is because they wanted a site that was a more faithful clone of Couchsurfing, except without Couchsurfing's recent turn towards paywalls. However, people who have been involved in internet hospitality exchange for many years are concerned about this kind of duplication of effort. There were also concerns about Couchers’ non-profit status in the beginning, but one does have to give them credit for swiftly resolving that.