Mattermost vs Openfire (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Mattermost if

• Fits if your chat has to stay on your own servers or on an air-gapped network
• Works for technical teams who can run and maintain their own server

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if nobody on the team wants to run a server, as it's self-hosted by design
• Not for you if you want to see a price before talking to anyone, because every paid license is quoted by sales
• Tight if you rely on the free Entry mode, which only shows the latest 10,000 channel messages and has community support
• Watch out: Team Edition has no single sign-on, and the vendor doesn't recommend it for sensitive work
• Pricey if you need workflow automation or boards, as both start on Enterprise, sold as prepaid annual seats

Pick Openfire if

• Fits if you want to run your own chat server and control the data
• Works for sysadmins already comfortable with Java and XMPP

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you do not want to maintain a server, since there is no hosted version
• Watch out: from version 4.7.0 on, no Java runtime is bundled
• Skip it if you need paid support, as only the community forum and issue tracker are listed
• Watch out: the Spark desktop client was last updated in March 2023
• Too light for end users on its own, since they need a separate chat client

Mattermost

• No prices are published: Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced are quoted by sales and sold as prepaid annual seat subscriptions.
• Entry shows only the latest 10,000 channel messages and has community support only; the vendor suggests it for teams of fewer than 50 users.
• It is self-hosted by design; the only vendor-hosted option described is single-tenant Mattermost Cloud Enterprise, arranged through sales.
• Team Edition has no single sign-on, and the vendor does not recommend it for government or sensitive commercial workloads.

Openfire

• It is server software: you install and maintain it yourself. Releases from 4.7.0 on no longer bundle a Java runtime, so you install one separately.
• Installers are listed for Windows, macOS (dmg), Debian and RPM packages, and a Unix tarball. No hosted version is offered on the pages read.
• The Spark desktop client download listed was last updated in March 2023.
• Support comes from the community through the project's forums and issue tracker; the pages read list no paid support.

Mattermost

Channel-based messaging

1-1 and group messages, public and private channels, threaded discussions, file sharing and search across web, desktop and mobile, in 20 languages.

Playbooks

Repeatable playbooks for incident response, change management and compliance, with conditional checklists and escalation. The pricing page lists workflow automation from Enterprise.

Calls and screen sharing

1:1 audio calls with screen sharing are in every paid package, and group calls support about 50 concurrent users per self-hosted server. A 40-minute call limit is planned for Entry.

Boards

Kanban, table, calendar and gallery boards for assigning and tracking tasks next to the conversation. The pricing page lists work management from Enterprise.

AI agents

Agents summarize conversations and take actions using an LLM provider the customer chooses, or a self-hosted model in air-gapped environments.

Integrations and API

A REST API with an OpenAPI 3.0 spec, webhooks, slash commands and a plugin platform, with prebuilt integrations for tools such as Jira, GitHub and GitLab.

Openfire

XMPP server

Built on XMPP, which the project describes as the widely adopted open protocol for instant messaging.

Plugins

An archive of plugins extends the server, for example one that deploys the third-party Converse web client.

Admin console

The server is administered through a console, and plugins can be installed from it.

Recent XMPP security work

Project posts describe SASL2, Bind2 and FAST connection extensions and SCRAM-SHA-512-PLUS support.

Own desktop client

The same project publishes Spark, a cross-platform desktop chat client for organizations.

Mattermost

• Entry$0

  Free mode of the Enterprise Edition: Enterprise Advanced features with 10,000 viewable messages, community support, and no compliance or high availability.

• Team Edition$0

  Open-source, MIT-licensed edition for small teams and personal use under 250 activated users, without single sign-on.

• ProfessionalCustom

  For teams of up to 250 users: single sign-on, AD/LDAP sync, guest accounts and next-business-day support. Sold as prepaid annual seats.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Adds workflow automation, work management boards, compliance and data retention tools, federated communications and high availability.

• Enterprise AdvancedCustom

  Adds zero-trust attribute-based access controls, classification banners, burn-on-read messages and support for air-gapped environments.

Openfire

• Open source$0

  Self-hosted server under the Apache License. You supply the machine and a Java runtime.

Mattermost

• Nonprofit

  3-year Professional license for $250

  Eligible nonprofit and open-source organizations can apply for a 3-year self-hosted Mattermost Professional subscription for up to 1,000 users for a $250 fee.

Openfire

No public discounts listed.