Slack is the standard for team communication, but its free plan message limits and enterprise pricing can be barriers. devpick lists 4 self-hosted alternatives that retain all messages without restrictions.
- Unlimited messages with no retention limits when self-hosted
- End-to-end encryption with Element encrypting messages by default
- On-premises deployment with Mattermost proven in defense, finance, and government
- Topic-based threads in Zulip optimized for large team organization
- Omnichannel support in Rocket.Chat integrating customer support alongside team chat
5 tools
Rocket.Chat
The Secure CommsOS™ for mission-critical operations
mattermost
Mattermost is an open source platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle..
platform
Huly — All-in-One Project Management Platform (alternative to Linear, Jira, Slack, Notion, Motion)
zulip
Zulip server and web application. Open-source team chat that helps teams stay productive and focused.
element-web
A glossy Matrix collaboration client for the web.
How to Choose
For enterprise security choose Mattermost, for privacy and federation choose Element, and for asynchronous communication choose Zulip as the optimal selection.