Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat

Mattermost

• Organizations that must keep chat on their own servers or air-gapped networks
• DevOps and security teams that run incident response from chat
• Small technical teams comfortable hosting their own server

Rocket.Chat

• Organizations that must host chat themselves for data sovereignty
• Small teams of up to 50 that can run their own server
• Government and defense groups that need air-gapped deployment
• Agencies that federate with partners over the Matrix protocol

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.

Rocket.Chat

• Paid plan prices are not published; Commercial, Government and Defense are quoted by sales.
• Starter stops at 50 users, cannot be deployed air-gapped and has community support only, with no option to buy support.
• The Community edition has core messaging only and 100 concurrent users, and the vendor says it is not suited to business-critical production use.
• The free options are self-managed, so the team installs and maintains the server; Rocket.Chat-run hosting comes with paid plans.

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.

Rocket.Chat

Channels, direct messages and threads

Channels, groups, direct messages and threaded discussions with multimedia and file sharing, searchable message history, read receipts and an interface in 64 languages.

Deployment on your own terms

Workspaces run on-premises, in a private or sovereign cloud, or on Rocket.Chat's dedicated hosting. Air-gapped deployment is available on paid plans only.

Identity and access controls

Active Directory and LDAP authentication, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication and role-based access control are included from the free Starter plan.

Encryption and data policies

End-to-end encryption can be switched on for messages and files, alongside data retention policies, data loss prevention and content moderation.

Video through integrations

Calls connect through Pexip, Jitsi, BigBlueButton, Google Meet or Zoom on Starter. The Community edition supports Jitsi and BigBlueButton only.

Federation, apps and API

Matrix protocol federation links separate organizations in shared channels, and the Marketplace, Apps Engine and open API cover custom apps and integrations.

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.

Rocket.Chat

• Starter$0

  Self-managed workspace for up to 50 users with SSO, LDAP, multi-factor authentication, end-to-end encryption and community-only support.

• Community$0

  Open-source (MIT) edition with core messaging only, up to 100 concurrent users and push notifications capped at 10,000 a month.

• CommercialCustom

  For commercial enterprises: on-premises, private cloud or dedicated cloud hosting, high availability and regulatory compliance features.

• GovernmentCustom

  For public sector agencies: on-premises or sovereign cloud deployment, tamper-evident audit logs, retention policies and Matrix federation.

• DefenseCustom

  For defense and intelligence: air-gapped deployment, DoD ATO up to IL6, FIPS 140-3 validated cryptography and clearance-based access control.

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.

Rocket.Chat

No public discounts listed.