Microsoft Teams vs Rocket.Chat
We give Microsoft Teams a 3.4 GPA and Rocket.Chat a 3.2, out of 4.0. Microsoft Teams grades higher on value for money and ease of use. Rocket.Chat grades higher on the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Microsoft Teams
Chat, video meetings and calling tied into Microsoft 365
Rocket.Chat
Open-source, self-managed chat for security-focused teams
How we grade them
| 3.4GPAMicrosoft TeamsVery good | 3.2GPARocket.ChatVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | ATeams Essentials is $4.00 a person a month, paid yearly, with meetings for 300 and recordings with transcripts. Slack Pro is $7.25. And if your company's on Microsoft 365, you probably have it already. | BNo paid prices are published. Commercial, Government and Defense are all quoted by sales, so we can't set them against what team chat usually costs. You'd be buying things like high availability, audit logs and air-gapped deployment. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe free version covers one person: unlimited chat, group calls of 60 minutes with up to 100 people and 5 GB of storage. That's for family, not for a team. The one-month trial of the paid plans needs a card. | AStarter is free for up to 50 users on your own server, with SSO, LDAP, multi-factor authentication and end-to-end encryption. A small team could stay on it for good. Support is community only, and there's no option to buy any. |
| Features | AChat, channels, meetings for 300, breakout rooms, recordings with transcripts, a whiteboard and shared Office files. Phone lines, webinars and Copilot are there too, if you pay more. | AChannels, direct messages, threads, file sharing and searchable history, in 64 languages. Then the serious stuff: role-based access, retention policies, data loss prevention and Matrix federation. Video calls go through Jitsi, Pexip, Zoom and the like. |
| Ease of use | B4.8 from about 3.4 million App Store ratings, which is hard to argue with. But the written reviews grumble about clutter and phone bugs, and Hacker News regulars call the desktop app slow. | DYou host it yourself. Both free options are self-managed, so your team installs and maintains the server. Hosting run by Rocket.Chat only comes with the paid plans, and those start with a sales call. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWindows, Mac, iPhone, Android and four browsers, and Microsoft's pricing page counts over 250 business apps that plug in. But there's no Linux app. Microsoft says Teams is no longer supported there. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android. There's a Marketplace, an Apps Engine and an open API for building your own, and Matrix federation links you to other organizations. |
| Best for | offices that already pay for Microsoft 365 | chat that never leaves your own servers |
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: Microsoft Teams and Rocket.Chat. How we grade
Where they differ
- Only Rocket.Chat lists a Linux app.
- Rocket.Chat is open source, self-hostable and end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Microsoft Teams also covers transcription, noise cancellation, whiteboard and video calls.
At a glance
| Microsoft Teams | Rocket.Chat | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $4.00 per user / month, paid yearly | Not published |
| Free plan | Microsoft Teams (free) is for one person: unlimited chat, group calls of up to 60 minutes and 100 participants, and 5 GB of cloud storage. | Starter: a free self-managed workspace for up to 50 users with single sign-on, end-to-end encryption and community support. The MIT-licensed Community edition is also free. |
| Free trial | One-month free trial of the paid plans; a credit card is required and it converts to a paid subscription. | Qualifying government, defense and critical infrastructure organizations can get a free guided, hosted evaluation. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Microsoft | Rocket.Chat Technologies Corp. |
| Price read from | microsoft.com | rocket.chat |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Microsoft Teams
- Organizations that already pay for Microsoft 365
- Small businesses that want meetings and chat without the full suite
- Companies that want phone calling inside their chat app
- Teams that co-edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files
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
Worth knowing
Microsoft Teams
- The free version is built for one person: group calls stop at 60 minutes and 100 participants, with 5 GB of cloud storage.
- Teams Essentials and the Microsoft 365 Business plans stop at 300 users; larger organizations need Teams Enterprise or Microsoft 365 E3 or E5.
- There is no Linux desktop app: Microsoft points Linux users to a progressive web app and says the Linux client is no longer supported.
- Webinar hosting is left out of Teams Essentials and Business Basic, and phone service, Teams Premium and Copilot are separately priced add-ons.
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.
Key features
Microsoft Teams
- Chat and channels
- Chats and channels hold conversations, shared files, Loop and OneNote pages and third-party apps. Paid plans include unlimited chat messages, file attachments and search.
- Video meetings
- Business plans allow meetings of up to 300 participants and 30 hours, with screen sharing, breakout rooms, custom backgrounds, Together mode and noise suppression.
- Recordings, transcripts and captions
- Paid plans record meetings with transcripts. Live captions cover more than 30 languages on the Microsoft 365 business plans and English only on Teams Essentials.
- Webinars
- Webinar hosting with attendee registration and reporting comes with Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot and the enterprise suites, not with Business Basic or Essentials.
- Teams Phone
- A cloud phone system added to a Teams license. Teams Phone Standard is $10.00 per user / month paid yearly, and US bundles that add a calling plan start at $13.00.
- Copilot and Teams Premium
- Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams Premium are add-ons. Teams Premium costs $10.00 per user / month paid yearly and needs a plan with a Teams Enterprise license.
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.
Plans
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams (free)$0
For one person: unlimited chat, group calls of up to 60 minutes and 100 participants, tasks and polling, and 5 GB of cloud storage.
Microsoft Teams Essentials$4.00
per user / month, paid yearly
Teams on its own for up to 300 users: meetings of up to 300 people and 30 hours, recordings with transcripts, and 10 GB of storage per user.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic$7.00
per user / month, paid yearly
Suite plan that includes Teams, plus web and mobile Office apps, custom business email and 1 TB of cloud storage per user. Up to 300 users.
Microsoft Teams Enterprise$8.55
per user / month, paid yearly
Teams on its own for organizations of more than 300 people, with recordings, transcripts and 10 GB of cloud storage per user.
M365 Business Standard with Copilot$23.50
per user / month, paid yearly
Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot: Teams with webinar hosting, desktop Office apps and Copilot in the apps. Up to 300 users.
Microsoft 365 E3$39.00
per user / month, paid yearly (annual commitment)
Enterprise suite for any size that includes Teams with webinars, desktop Office apps and added security. Microsoft 365 E5 is $60.00.
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.
Ways to pay less
Microsoft Teams
- Nonprofit
75% off Microsoft 365 Business Premium for nonprofits
Eligible nonprofits can get Microsoft 365 Business Premium, a suite that includes Microsoft Teams, at a 75% discount after registering and confirming eligibility.
Rocket.Chat
No public discounts listed.
