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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Web App

Rocket.Chat

Open-source team chat you host yourself, free for up to 50 users.

Visit Rocket.Chat4.2

  • Rating

    4.2 / 5

  • Pricing

    Freemium

  • Difficulty

    Advanced

  • Works on

    Web, Windows, macOS

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What is Rocket.Chat?

Rocket.Chat is a self-managed communication platform with channels, direct messages, threads and video integrations. The free Starter plan includes premium features for up to 50 users on a self-managed workspace, with community support. The Community edition is open source under the MIT licence for teams that outgrow Starter and need only basic features, though Rocket.Chat says it is not suitable for business-critical production use. Commercial, Government and Defense plans are quoted by sales.

Pros: what Rocket.Chat does well

  • Free Starter plan with premium features for up to 50 users
  • MIT-licensed Community edition
  • Your data stays on servers you control

Cons: where it falls short

  • Self-managed only on the free plans, so you need technical setup
  • Free plans rely on community support

Who Rocket.Chat is for

Small teams that want self-hosted chat with premium features for free.

Who can skip it

Teams that want a fully hosted chat app.

Compare Rocket.Chat

See how Rocket.Chat stacks up, side by side, plus the lists it made.

Rocket.Chat alternatives

Not sold on Rocket.Chat? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Communication resources

Zulip

Focus: threads. Shares team chat and open source with Rocket.Chat. Rated 4.5 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFree planWeb, macOS
4.5Visit

Mattermost

Focus: devops. Shares team chat and self-hosted with Rocket.Chat. Rated 4.4 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.4Visit

Pumble

Focus: messaging, channels and free plan. Shares team chat and slack alternative with Rocket.Chat. Rated 4.4 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFree planWeb, macOS
4.4Visit

Element

Focus: matrix and messaging. Shares open source and self-hosted with Rocket.Chat. Rated 4.3 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.3Visit

Docmost

Focus: wiki, documentation and confluence alternative. Shares self-hosted and open source with Rocket.Chat. Free (Rocket.Chat: Freemium). Rated 4.7 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.7Visit

BookStack

Focus: wiki, documentation and github. Shares self-hosted and open source with Rocket.Chat. Free (Rocket.Chat: Freemium). Rated 4.6 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.6Visit

Free alternatives to Rocket.Chat

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

Gitea

Focus: git hosting, code review and issues. Shares self-hosted and open source with Rocket.Chat. Free (Rocket.Chat: Freemium). Rated 4.6 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb, Linux
4.6Visit

Wiki.js

Focus: wiki, documentation and github. Shares self-hosted and open source with Rocket.Chat. Free (Rocket.Chat: Freemium). Rated 4.6 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.6Visit

Huly

Focus: project management, issue tracker and github. Shares team chat and open source with Rocket.Chat. Free (Rocket.Chat: Freemium). Rated 4.4 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb, Windows
4.4Visit

Nextcloud

Focus: file sync and dropbox alternative. Shares self-hosted and open source with Rocket.Chat. Free (Rocket.Chat: Freemium). Rated 4.4 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb, Windows
4.4Visit

TaskView

Focus: task management, project management and teams. Shares self-hosted and open source with Rocket.Chat. Free (Rocket.Chat: Freemium). Rated 4.3 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.3Visit

cumora

Focus: ai agents, collaboration and multi-agent. Shares team chat and open source with Rocket.Chat. A desktop app, not a web app. Free (Rocket.Chat: Freemium). Rated 4.5 (Rocket.Chat: 4.2).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.5Visit
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