Mattermost vs Symphony (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Mattermost grades higher than Symphony: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Mattermost grades higher on the free plan. Symphony grades higher on features and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Mattermost
Self-hosted team messaging with playbooks, calls and boards
Which one is for you
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 Symphony if
- Fits if you work at a regulated financial firm that needs compliant chat
- Makes sense if you need to message other firms through federation
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to see a price, as none is published
- Skip it if you want to sign up yourself, as logins are set up by the firm or its IT team
- Not for you if you want a free plan or trial
- Watch out: Federation Virtual Numbers come from Umony, a separate company
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAMattermostFair | 2.2GPASymphonyFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published. Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced are all quoted by sales and sold as prepaid annual seats, so there's nothing to set against the $7 a month team chat typically starts at. Nonprofits and open-source projects do get a 3-year Professional licence for $250. | CNo price is published, so it sits at the middle by default; the site directs buyers to a demo. |
| Free plan and trial | BTwo free routes, both clipped. Entry gives you the Enterprise Advanced features but shows only the latest 10,000 channel messages, with community support. The MIT-licensed Team Edition covers under 250 users with no single sign-on, and the vendor doesn't recommend it for sensitive work. | FNo free plan or trial; the site offers a demo request. |
| Features | CChannels, threads, file sharing and search in 20 languages, plus playbooks for incident response and AI agents. The listing puts workflow automation and the Kanban boards on Enterprise and up, though, and group calls hold about 50 people per server. | BMessaging, federation between firms, Teams interoperability, voice, directory, analytics and APIs. The listing shows no gap in the core job. |
| Ease of use | DYou host it yourself: the only vendor-hosted option is a single-tenant cloud arranged through sales, so somebody runs and maintains a server before anyone says hello. The iPhone app has 4.8 from about 5,600 App Store ratings. | CAccounts are provisioned by a firm or IT team and use a company-specific pod name, so there is set-up before use. No store rating on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, plus a REST API with an OpenAPI 3.0 spec, webhooks, slash commands and a plugin platform, with Jira, GitHub, GitLab, ServiceNow, Zoom and Pexip ready-made. | AWeb, Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android, with developer APIs and links to Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, WeChat and LINE. |
| Best for | team chat kept on your own servers | secure messaging for regulated firms |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Mattermost and Symphony. How we grade
Where they differ
- Mattermost is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Symphony is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Mattermost also covers kanban boards and AI agents.
- Symphony also covers whatsApp messaging.
At a glance
| Mattermost | Symphony | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | Not published | Not published |
| Free plan | Mattermost Entry is a free self-hosted mode limited to 10,000 viewable channel messages with community support. The open-source Team Edition is also free for under 250 users. | None |
| Free trial | 1-hour preview environment of Enterprise Advanced; a trial can also be activated on a self-hosted server. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Mattermost, Inc. | Symphony |
| Price read from | mattermost.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Symphony
- No prices are published on the site; buyers are directed to request a demo or contact the company.
- Pricing is unverified here, and Federation Virtual Numbers are provided by Umony, a separate company.
- Logins use a company-specific pod name, so accounts are set up by the customer's firm or its IT team.
Key features
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.
Symphony
- Messaging for regulated firms
- Secure chat and workflow software with information barriers, auditability and data archiving, aimed at financial services.
- Federation
- Lets staff message clients on WhatsApp, SMS, Microsoft Teams, LINE and WeChat in a compliance-enabled way, using a single virtual number.
- Embedded mode and Teams interoperability
- Messaging can be embedded in other applications, and Symphony Messaging can be connected to Microsoft Teams.
- Voice, directory and analytics
- Cloud9 trader voice, an Enhanced Directory of market counterparties and an analytics platform sit beside messaging.
- Developer APIs
- The site links API documentation and training from its developer relations team.
Plans
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.
Symphony
Pricing could not be confirmed. See symphony.com.
Ways to pay less
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.
Symphony
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Mattermost or Symphony?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Mattermost publishes no starting price, and Symphony has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Mattermost or Symphony?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Mattermost has a free plan. Symphony does not.
Which platforms do Mattermost and Symphony run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Mattermost lists a Linux app. Both list a web app and macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.