Mattermost
A self-hosted team chat platform with a desktop client, aimed at organisations that want Slack without the cloud.
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3 more ways to get Mattermost
About Mattermost
Mattermost is open-source team collaboration you run on your own servers, which is the whole point for defence, finance and other places where a hosted chat service is not permitted. Channels, threads, search, integrations and a plugin framework are all there, along with Playbooks for checklist-driven workflows.
This listing is the Electron desktop client, which adds a server dropdown for connecting to more than one Mattermost instance, dedicated tabs for Channels, Boards and Playbooks, desktop notifications, unread badges, deep linking and a background mode.
The server has a free, self-hosted Team edition and paid Professional and Enterprise editions; the desktop client itself is free either way.
Strengths
- The server is self-hosted, so message data never leaves your infrastructure
- Server dropdown lets one client connect to several Mattermost instances
- Dedicated tabs for Channels, Boards and Playbooks with unread badges and deep linking
- Packaged for winget, Homebrew, Flathub and the Arch repositories
Limitations
- Needs a Mattermost server, which is real infrastructure to run
- Electron, so memory use is high for a chat client
- Some server features are reserved for paid editions
- The client is only as good as the server version it connects to
Details
- Pricing
- FreemiumThe desktop client is free and open source. The Mattermost server has a free self-hosted Team edition, with paid Professional and Enterprise editions and a paid cloud offering.
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Developer
- Mattermost
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Required
- Works offline
- No
- Best suited for
- Team chat for an organisation that must keep its messages on its own servers
- Categories
- Messaging
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Selected from the TechWalrus downloads catalog (Messaging); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 2 sources on file.
Alternatives to Mattermost
Compare allSoftware that can replace Mattermost for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
Zulip
Team chat organised by topic inside each channel, so conversations stay readable when you come back hours later.
Zulip is also self-hostable and Apache-2.0 licensed, organising conversations by topic within channels, with hosted plans available too.
Rocket.Chat Desktop
Connect to Rocket.Chat workspaces from a desktop client.
Rocket.Chat Desktop connects to self-hosted Rocket.Chat workspaces under an MIT-licensed client, with server licensing handled separately.
Element
The reference Matrix client: end-to-end encrypted chat on a network you can host yourself.
Element provides federated Matrix team chat you can self-host with end-to-end encryption and bridges, but adds homeserver choice and key management.
Microsoft Teams (free)
The free edition of Microsoft Teams for chat, file sharing and video meetings.
Microsoft Teams free adds meetings and mobile apps, but is proprietary and hosted by Microsoft rather than on your own servers.
Wire
End-to-end encrypted messaging, calls and file sharing for organisations.
Wire offers end-to-end encrypted messaging, calls and self-hosting for organisations, with a focus on paid business plans.
Stoat
An open-source group chat app with servers, channels, voice chat and role-based moderation for communities.
Stoat offers servers, channels, voice chat and role-based moderation with web and mobile apps, but is aimed at communities rather than organisations.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
Matrix Hookshot
A self-hosted Matrix bot that bridges GitHub, GitLab, Jira, feeds and generic webhooks into rooms.
Zoho Workplace
An online suite from Zoho combining mail, team chat, meetings, file storage and office editors.
Google Workspace
Google's online office suite with Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, Drive and Meet in one account.
Jitsi Meet
Open-source WebRTC video meetings that run in the browser or in mobile apps.
