24 ranked picks · Updated daily

Self-hosted team chat, Slack alternatives that own your message history

Slack charges $7-12 per user per month and locks message history behind paywalls. Self-hosted Mattermost, Rocket.Chat, and Zulip give the same channels, threads, and integrations on your infra.

Cheapest path: server on hetzner for $4.13/mo, that's about $34/year less than Slack.

The 24 picks, ranked by health

Health score is a 6-dimension composite. See methodology.

server
by nextcloud
85/100

Nextcloud server, a safe home for all your data

PHP AGPL-3.0
35k
$4.13/mo
2/5
owncast
by owncast
83/100

Take control over your live stream video by running it yourself. Streaming + chat out of the box.

Go MIT
11k
$4.13/mo
2/5
etherpad
by ether
82/100

Etherpad: A modern really-real-time collaborative document editor.

TypeScript Apache-2.0
18k
$4.13/mo
1/5
Rocket.Chat
by RocketChat
81/100

The Secure CommsOS™ for mission-critical operations

TypeScript NOASSERTION
45k
$4.13/mo
2/5
mattermost-server
by mattermost
81/100

Mattermost is an open source platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle..

TypeScript NOASSERTION
37k
$4.13/mo
2/5
zulip
by zulip
81/100

Zulip server and web application. Open-source team chat that helps teams stay productive and focused.

Python Apache-2.0
25k
$4.13/mo
2/5
nats-server
by nats-io
81/100

High-Performance server for NATS.io, the cloud and edge native messaging system.

Go Apache-2.0
20k
$4.13/mo
2/5
emqx
by emqx
80/100

The most scalable and reliable MQTT broker for AI, IoT, IIoT and connected vehicles

Erlang NOASSERTION
16k
$4.13/mo
2/5
lemmy
by LemmyNet
80/100

A decentralised discussion platform for communities.

Rust AGPL-3.0
14k
$4.13/mo
2/5
bigbluebutton
by bigbluebutton
79/100

A complete web conferencing system for virtual classes and more!

JavaScript LGPL-3.0
9.1k
$4.13/mo
2/5
onetimesecret
by onetimesecret
79/100

Keep passwords and other sensitive information out of your inboxes and chat logs.

Ruby MIT
2.8k
$4.13/mo
2/5
movim
by movim
79/100

Movim - Decentralized social platform

PHP AGPL-3.0
2.0k
$4.13/mo
3/5
bit
by teambit
78/100

AI-powered development workspaces with reusable components, architectural clarity and zero overhead.

TypeScript NOASSERTION
18k
$4.13/mo
2/5
simplex-chat
by simplex-chat
78/100

SimpleX - the first messaging network operating without user identifiers of any kind - 100% private by design! iOS, Android and desktop apps !

Haskell AGPL-3.0
11k
$4.13/mo
2/5
thelounge
by thelounge
78/100

‎ Modern, responsive, cross-platform, self-hosted web IRC client

TypeScript MIT
6.2k
$4.13/mo
2/5
livehelperchat
by LiveHelperChat
78/100

Live Helper Chat - live support for your website. Featuring web and mobile apps, Voice & Video & ScreenShare. Supports Telegram, Twilio (whatsapp), Facebook messenger including building a bot.

PHP Apache-2.0
2.2k
$4.13/mo
3/5
centrifugo
by centrifugal
77/100

Scalable real-time messaging server in a language-agnostic way. Self-hosted alternative to Pubnub, Pusher, Ably, socket.io, Phoenix.PubSub, SignalR. Set up once and forever.

Go Apache-2.0
10k
$4.13/mo
2/5
slack
by slack-go
77/100

Slack API in Go

Go BSD-2-Clause
4.9k
$4.13/mo
2/5
ockam
by build-trust
77/100

Orchestrate end-to-end encryption, cryptographic identities, mutual authentication, and authorization policies between distributed applications - at massive scale.

Rust Apache-2.0
4.6k
$4.13/mo
2/5
cryptpad
by cryptpad
76/100

Collaborative office suite, end-to-end encrypted and open-source.

JavaScript AGPL-3.0
7.6k
$4.13/mo
1/5
hedgedoc
by hedgedoc
76/100

HedgeDoc - Ideas grow better together

TypeScript AGPL-3.0
7.1k
$4.13/mo
3/5
MongooseIM
by esl
76/100

MongooseIM is Erlang Solutions' robust, scalable and efficient XMPP server, aimed at large installations. Specifically designed for enterprise purposes, it is fault-tolerant and can utilise the resources of multiple clustered machines.

Erlang NOASSERTION
1.7k
$4.13/mo
2/5
linkwarden
by linkwarden
75/100

Self-hosted collaborative bookmark manager to collect, read, annotate, and fully preserve what matters, all in one place.

TypeScript AGPL-3.0
18k
$4.13/mo
3/5
ejabberd
by processone
75/100

Robust, Ubiquitous and Massively Scalable Messaging Platform (XMPP, MQTT, SIP Server)

Erlang NOASSERTION
6.7k
$4.13/mo
2/5

Specifically replacing

These categories on ossreplace cover the SaaS in this space.

Slack alternatives

Ready to self-host?

Most operators land on server (top health) and run it on hetzner for around $4.13/mo.

Last verified . Data refreshes every 30 minutes.