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The Mattermost Insider’s Guide

Everything we know about Mattermost in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.

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ToolGPAOctober 2026

Mattermost

The Insider’s Guide

Self-hosted team messaging with playbooks, calls and boards

Mattermost, as pictured on mattermost.com

Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among team communication apps, read from Mattermost’s own pages.

Made by Mattermost, Inc. · checked Oct 5, 2026 · toolgpa.com

2.4GPA

Contents

  1. 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
  2. 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
  3. 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
  4. 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
  5. 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
  6. 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
  7. 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it

ToolGPA put this guide together from Mattermost’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on Mattermost’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 5, 2026.

Part 01 · Overview

Welcome

What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first

2.4

GPA, above 8 of the 33 other team communication apps we grade

Mattermost is an open-core, self-hosted collaboration platform built around channel-based messaging, with playbooks for repeatable processes, calls with screen sharing, and Kanban-style boards. It is aimed at security-sensitive organizations and can run in a private cloud or on air-gapped networks. Small teams can use the free Entry mode or the open-source Team Edition, while the Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced licenses are quoted by sales.

To get you started, here are 8 things to know about Mattermost, taken from its own pages and our grades.

Someone has to host and maintain it, since the only vendor-hosted option goes through sales, and no paid price is published.
From our report card of Mattermost
  1. 1

    Best for team chat kept on your own servers

    Mattermost is team chat you run on your own servers, air-gapped networks included, with playbooks for incident response, calls and boards.

  2. 2

    There is a 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.

  3. 3

    It runs on 6 platforms

    Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.

  4. 4

    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.

  5. 5

    Playbooks

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

  6. 6

    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.

  7. 7

    A 2.4 GPA, above 8 of 33

    That is against the other team communication apps we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.

  8. 8

    Keep it

    To replace Mattermost you would be making chat that a whole team counts on staying up. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.

Mattermost at a glance

Pricing
Free plan
Free plan
Yes
Free trial
1-hour preview environment of Enterprise Advanced; a trial can also be activated on a self-hosted server.
Runs on
Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
Made by
Mattermost, Inc.
Category
Team Communication
Our grade
2.4 GPA, fair
Store rating
4.8 on the App Store, 5,646 ratings

The report card

Best for team chat kept on your own servers

Mattermost is team chat you run on your own servers, air-gapped networks included, with playbooks for incident response, calls and boards. Someone has to host and maintain it, since the only vendor-hosted option goes through sales, and no paid price is published. The free Entry mode shows only the latest 10,000 channel messages, and the free Team Edition has no single sign-on.

ToolGPA report cardMattermostGraded Oct 10, 2026
SubjectGradeComment
Value for moneyCNo 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.
Free plan and trialBTwo 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.
FeaturesCChannels, 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.
Ease of useDYou 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.
Platforms and integrationsAWeb, 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.
Grade point averageFair, out of 4.02.4

An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.

Who Mattermost is for

  • 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

Who it is not for

  • 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

Good to know

Good for

  • 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

Worth knowing

  • 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.

Part 02 · Pricing

What it costs

Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved

5

plans to choose from

Mattermost has a free plan.

  • 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.

  • Professional

    Custom

    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.

  • Enterprise

    Custom

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

  • Enterprise Advanced

    Custom

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

The 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.

Trying it first

1-hour preview environment of Enterprise Advanced; a trial can also be activated on a self-hosted server.

Read from mattermost.com on Oct 5, 2026.

Ways to pay less

  • 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.

    Stated on docs.mattermost.com

How its prices have moved

  • Jan 15, 2026Professional: $10 per user / month, billed annually → No listed price; sold through salesThe archived copy of 15 January 2026 shows Professional with a Contact Sales button and no price; the copy before it, of 15 November 2025, shows $10 per user a month, billed annually. The listed price was withdrawn between the two.
  • Oct 17, 2021Professional: new, $10 per user / monthThe archived copy of 17 October 2021 shows Starter, Professional and Enterprise plans, with Professional at $10 per user a month; the copy before it, of 14 October 2020, shows only Enterprise E10 and E20. The archive holds no copy in between.
  • Oct 17, 2021Enterprise E10: withdrawn (was $3.25 per user / month, billed annually)The archived copy of 17 October 2021 no longer shows Enterprise E10; the copy before it, of 14 October 2020, shows it at $3.25 per user a month, billed annually. The plan was withdrawn between the two.
  • Oct 17, 2021Enterprise E20: withdrawn (was $8.50 per user / month, billed annually)The archived copy of 17 October 2021 no longer shows Enterprise E20; the copy before it, of 14 October 2020, shows it at $8.50 per user a month, billed annually. The plan was withdrawn between the two.

Part 03 · Features

What it does

Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it

6

Places it runs: Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android

Self-hosted team messaging with playbooks, calls and boards. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: open source, self-hostable, public API, kanban boards, workflow automation, AI agents, team chat.

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.

Where it runs

  • Web
  • macOS
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • iOS
  • Android

What it works with

  • Jira
  • GitHub
  • GitLab
  • ServiceNow
  • Zoom
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Pexip

Who makes Mattermost

Mattermost, Inc. makes Mattermost, an open-core collaboration platform that organisations host themselves or run in private clouds. It sells paid editions above a free tier and aims them at national security and critical infrastructure organisations.

Based
Palo Alto, California (US office); eight locations listed in seven countriesmattermost.com
Ownership
Privately held. Privately held and backed by venture investors, among them Y Combinator Continuity, Redpoint, S28 Capital and Battery Ventures, according to its 2019 funding announcement. Its leadership page describes Mattermost, Inc. as the global parent company.mattermost.com
Funding
Raised $50 million in a Series B led by Y Combinator Continuity in June 2019, joined by Redpoint, S28 Capital and Battery Ventures, according to its own announcement. SiliconANGLE put the total raised at $73.5 million at the time.mattermost.comsiliconangle.com
Founders and leaders
Hiring
14 jobs listed: seven in sales, six in engineering and one in security, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan.mattermost.com
Partner program
Partner program with three kinds of partner: system integrators, resellers and deployment partners. Firms ask to join through a request form; no payment terms are published.mattermost.com
Lately
Follow

Read on Oct 6, 2026 from the company’s own pages and from news reports. What is not stated there is left out.

Part 04 · Standing

Where it stands

Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own

8/33

Other team communication apps it is graded above

Mattermost's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 8 of the 33 other team communication apps we grade, and level with 11.

It stands best on platforms and integrations (A, above 15 of 33) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0).

Each grade against the category

Every bar is all 34 team communication apps we grade, cut by the letter each got. Mattermost’s own letter is outlined.

  • CValue for moneyAbove 2 of 33
  • BFree plan and trialAbove 23 of 33
  • CFeaturesAbove 0 of 33
  • DEase of useAbove 0 of 33
  • APlatforms and integrationsAbove 15 of 33

Keep it, or make your own?

Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.

Keep it

To replace Mattermost you would be making chat that a whole team counts on staying up. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.

That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 14 of the 33 other team communication apps grade higher. Mattermost is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.

What you could make

  • Kanban boards: an app builder makes this well.

What you could not

  • Chat that a whole team counts on staying up.
  • Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change.
  • An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it.
  • Apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android that stay in step with each other.
  • Sharing with other people, which means accounts and invitations.

What this rests on. Mattermost’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.

Part 05 · Alternatives

The alternatives

The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side

Slack, Rocket.Chat, Zulip, Element and Microsoft Teams

The 5 tools Mattermost is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.

  • 2.8GPA

    Slack

    Free plan · from $7.25/mo

    Channel-based team messaging with huddles, workflows and AI.

    • Mattermost is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
    • Mattermost also covers kanban boards and AI agents.
    • Slack also covers documents, video calls and file sharing.
    Mattermost and Slack compared in full
  • 2.4GPA

    Rocket.Chat

    Free plan

    Open-source, self-managed chat for security-focused teams.

    • Rocket.Chat is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
    • Mattermost also covers kanban boards, workflow automation and AI agents.
    • Rocket.Chat also covers file sharing.
    Mattermost and Rocket.Chat compared in full
  • 2.8GPA

    Zulip

    Free plan · from $3.50/mo

    Open-source team chat that organizes channels by topic.

    • Mattermost also covers kanban boards, workflow automation and AI agents.
    • Zulip also covers file sharing.
    Mattermost and Zulip compared in full
  • 2.8GPA

    Element

    Free plan

    End-to-end encrypted chat and calls on the Matrix standard.

    • Element is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
    • Mattermost also covers kanban boards, workflow automation and AI agents.
    • Element also covers video calls and file sharing.
    Mattermost and Element compared in full
  • 3.0GPA

    Microsoft Teams

    Free plan · from $4.00/mo

    Chat, video meetings and calling tied into Microsoft 365.

    • Only Mattermost lists a Linux app.
    • Mattermost is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
    • Mattermost also covers kanban boards, workflow automation and AI agents.
    Mattermost and Microsoft Teams compared in full

Part 06 · Questions

Quick answers

The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two

13

Questions, each answered in a line or two

The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.

Is Mattermost free?

Mattermost has a free plan. Mattermost Entry is a free self-hosted mode limited to 10,000 viewable channel messages with community support.

How much does Mattermost cost?

Mattermost lists 5 plans. Entry: $0.

What platforms does Mattermost work on?

Mattermost is available on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.

Does Mattermost offer any discounts?

Mattermost publicly lists the following: 3-year Professional license for $250.

How is Mattermost rated?

Mattermost's iPhone and iPad app averages 4.8 out of 5 from 5,646 ratings on the App Store in the United States, as read on Oct 5, 2026.

Is Mattermost open source?

Yes. Mattermost is open source, according to its own site.

Does Mattermost have an API?

Yes. Mattermost offers a public API, according to its own site.

What does Mattermost integrate with?

Mattermost's listing names Jira, GitHub, GitLab, ServiceNow, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Pexip.

Does Mattermost have a free trial?

Yes. 1-hour preview environment of Enterprise Advanced; a trial can also be activated on a self-hosted server.

Who makes Mattermost?

Mattermost is made by a company of the same name. Privately held and backed by venture investors, among them Y Combinator Continuity, Redpoint, S28 Capital and Battery Ventures, according to its 2019 funding announcement.

What are the alternatives to Mattermost?

The closest alternatives to Mattermost in our directory are Slack, Rocket.Chat, Zulip, Element and Microsoft Teams.

How does Mattermost compare with other team communication apps?

Mattermost's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 8 of the 33 other team communication apps we grade, and level with 11.

Could I make my own version of Mattermost?

To replace Mattermost you would be making chat that a whole team counts on staying up.

Where this guide comes from

The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from Mattermost’s own pages on Oct 5, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 10, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Mattermost's own pages on 5 October 2026, and its App Store rating. Also tested with a demo account on 2026-04-11.

Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by Mattermost, Inc. Prices change, so check mattermost.com before you buy.

Part 07 · About

About ToolGPA

Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it

3,189

Tools graded, in 94 categories

ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.

Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.

  • 3,189

    tools graded

  • 94

    categories

  • 426

    price changes on record

  • 579

    apps priced in 12 countries

What else is on toolgpa.com

Scan for the live page

Prices and grades as they are today

Quoting this guide?

Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:

ToolGPA, "Mattermost: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 5, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/mattermost

Know someone choosing between team communication apps?

Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/mattermost/guide

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See our other guides

The best-graded team communication apps after Mattermost, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.

ToolGPA

Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.

Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›

Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what Mattermost’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Mattermost is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by Mattermost, Inc. Prices and plans change: check mattermost.com before you buy.