Zulip
Open-source team chat where every conversation has a topic, so threads stay readable.
Web AppFree planWeb, macOS
4.5Visit
Web App
Mattermost
Self-hosted, open-source team chat with a free edition for small teams.
Built with love by Shushant Lakhyani. Building bestproductivityresources.com
What is Mattermost?
Mattermost is a self-hosted collaboration platform with channels, direct messages, threads, calls and playbooks, built for teams that want to run chat on their own servers. Team Edition is a free, open-source build for small teams, hobbyists and personal use, intended for fewer than 250 users and without SSO. The free Entry mode of the Enterprise Edition includes most paid features but shows only the latest 10,000 channel messages. Paid subscriptions are priced per seat through Mattermost's sales team.
Pros
- Free, open-source Team Edition you host yourself
- Keeps all your chat data on your own servers
- Familiar Slack-like channels and threads
Cons
- You need to run and maintain your own server
- Free Team Edition has no SSO and is meant for under 250 users
Who should use Mattermost
Technical teams that want Slack-style chat on infrastructure they control.
Who may not need it
Small teams that want a hosted chat app with no setup.
Mattermost alternatives
Similar resources to Mattermost, picked from the directory.
Rocket.Chat
Open-source team chat you host yourself, free for up to 50 users.
Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.2Visit
Element
Open-source, Matrix-based messaging you can self-host for free.
Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.3Visit
Pumble
Team chat with a free plan for unlimited users and unlimited message history.
Web AppFree planWeb, macOS
4.4Visit
Slack
Team communication organised into channels.
Web AppFree planWeb, macOS
4.2Visit
Discord
Free voice, video and text chat for communities, friends and small teams.
Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.5Visit
Free alternatives to Mattermost
Free resources that cover similar ground.
Nextcloud
Open-source, self-hosted file sync and sharing: your own Dropbox.
Web AppFreeWeb, Windows
4.4Visit
Jitsi Meet
Free, open-source video meetings with no account needed.
Web AppFreeWeb, Android
4.3Visit
TaskView
A self-hosted project and task management platform built for clarity and control.
Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.3Visit
cumora
Where agent teams gather — cross-platform team chat where AI agents are first-class teammates.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.5Visit
Octop
A smarter, self-hosted AI assistant — multi-user, multi-agent.
AI ToolFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.4Visit
Microsoft Teams (free)
Microsoft's free chat and video meetings for personal use.
Web AppFreeWeb, Windows
4.0Visit
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