Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat: Which tool suits your needs?

No matter whether you work in-office, remotely, or practice a hybrid work model, you simply must have a team chat app. 

Choosing the right business communication platform can be overwhelming, yet it is essential for effective communication and collaboration.

So, to make your choice a bit easier, in this blog post, we compare two of the most popular business messaging apps on the market — Mattermost and Rocket.Chat.

First, we’ll provide you with an overview of both platforms’ features.

Then, we’ll compare the two apps’ following categories:

• Pricing plans,
• Interface,
• Communication,
• Notifications,
• Search,
• File sharing and storage,
• Integrations,
• Support, and
• Security.

In the end, we’ll reach a verdict, see which team chat app is better — Mattermost or Rocket.Chat — and help you reach an informed decision about the best team chat app for you.

Let’s dive right in! 

Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat: Main features comparison

The main differences between Mattermost and Rocket.Chat are the pricing, customization option, communication and collaboration features, and search. While Rocket.Chat is cheaper and has more customization options as well as support for more languages, Mattermost secures easier communication and collaboration, more nuanced search options, and more integrations.

You can see and compare the main features of both Mattermost and Rocket.Chat in the table below.

After we’ve got you acquainted with both apps’ main features, it’s time for a more detailed comparison.

Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat pricing plans 0:1

First things first — pricing plans. 

If you need a communication and collaboration solution for a smaller team, you should consider Mattermost’s freemium version — Starter plan — which includes:

• One workspace for your team, 
• Unlimited users, channels, playbooks, and boards,
• 10GB file storage across the platform, 
• 1:1 calls with screen share option, and
• Access to your last 10,000 messages.

If your needs are greater, you can use one of the two paid plans — Professional or Enterprise.

For $10 per user/month, the Professional plan might be a good solution for growing teams, as it offers a number of features, including: 

• Unlimited workspaces,
• 250GB file storage across the platform,
• Group calls with screen share,
• Unlimited message search and history, and
• Guest accounts.

There’s also their Enterprise plan, which offers a more secure solution, advanced features, and compliance. 

On the other hand, Rocket.Chat offers two pricing plans — Community and Enterprise.

The Community plan offers plenty of features, including: 

• Unlimited 1:1 and group messaging,
• End-to-end encryption, and
• Full messaging history.

The Enterprise plan is great for larger teams, as it offers everything from Community, plus other amazing features, including:

• Unlimited & secure push notifications,
• Advanced identity management,
• Centralized admin controls and granular audit logs, and
• Data loss prevention.

Its price is based on the number of users and omnichannel agents:

• for a minimum of 25 users — $7 per user per month, or
• for a minimum of 5 agents — $35 per omnichannel agent.

If all of these features are not enough for you, Rocket.Chat even offers add-ons that will surely help satisfy your communication needs. 

Although both Mattermost and Rocket.Chat offer an admirable number of features, Rocket.Chat is this category’s winner, as its price is lower.

Here’s an overview of both apps’ pricing plans:

Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat interface 0:1

User interface is an important factor in deciding which communication platform to choose. 

For an ultimate user experience, your platform of choice should be intuitive, user-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing. 

So, let’s see what Mattermost and Rocket.Chat have to offer on this front. 

We’ll start with Mattermost.

Mattermost has a clean, intuitive interface.

It offers various customization options, including choosing different themes and modifying the sidebar to your liking, for a fuller user experience. 

Aside from that, Mattermost enables support for 16 languages — a pretty convenient feature for distributed teams around the globe. 

Furthermore, Mattermost’s interface offers white labeling so you can customize fonts and on-screen text.

It’s time we check out what options Rocket.Chat’s interface offers. 

Namely, Rocket.Chat’s interface is also very clean and intuitive. 

As an open source software, Rocket.Chat allows you to customize its:

• Colors, 
• Content, 
• CSS, and 
• JavaScript. 

Furthermore, Rocket.Chat offers support for 63 languages, and improved product content in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Arabic.

Thanks to more options for customization and support for more languages, Rocket.Chat wins the medal in this round. 

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Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat communication 1:0

Although both Mattermost and Rocket.Chat help you avoid team silos by offering you group messaging in private and public channels, there is an added bonus for Mattermost. 

Namely, Mattermost enables you to organize your team communication and collaboration in:

• Channels,
• Playbooks, and
• Boards.  

Mattermost has a great solution for streamlined collaboration — Playbooks — pre-built configurable checklists that make sure you and your teammates never forget your tasks or deadlines again.

Additionally, Mattermost helps you improve your workflow via Kanban boards — they enable you and your team to easily manage tasks and projects.

Let’s move on to Rocket.Chat, which also boasts a plethora of options for a more pleasant communication experience.

Among other things, this platform enables you to:

• Communicate in private or public channels, 
• Follow or unfollow threads,
• Easily share your files,
• Enjoy unlimited chat history,
• Message people outside of Rocket.Chat, and
• Share your location.

Both Mattermost and Rocket.Chat are excellent options for asynchronous communication.

However, thanks to its more developed structure for easier communication and collaboration — channels, playbooks, and Kanban boards — Mattermost takes the crown in this category. 

Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat notifications 1:0

It’s not easy to strike that fine line between being distracted by notifications and missing important messages on your communication platform of choice.

However, there is a solution — configuration of the notifications according to your preferences. 

Fortunately, both Mattermost and Rocket.Chat offer customizing options, so let’s dive into details — starting from Mattermost. 

Mattermost notifies you in cases when:

• You get a message,
• Someone mentions you,
• Someone sends a message to a channel you’re a member of, and
• Someone uses keywords you configured. 

Rocket.Chat lets you choose whether you get: 

• Notifications for all messages,
• Notifications just for mentions, or
• No notifications.

For teams that work across time zones, an especially useful feature is the Do Not Disturb (DND) mode, which Mattermost has among its built-in options.

Rocket.Chat doesn’t offer this option, but since its notifications are customizable, you can add it.

So, since Mattermost offers a more advanced notification configuration, it is the winner in this category.

Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat search 1:0

If the communication tool of your choice doesn’t have adequate search capabilities, it may cost you your time, nerves, and your productivity. 

Luckily, both Mattermost and Rocket.Chat help you avoid these problems, by offering you good search options. 

Mattermost allows you to search: 

• Messages, 
• Replies, and 
• All the files in your conversation history. 

Aside from that, various search modifiers are at your disposal, such as: 

• Exclusion symbol (-) — allows you to exclude from results all the posts containing a word of your choosing.
• Hashtags (#) — if you need to search for messages with a specific hashtag.
• Quotation marks (?) — if you need to search for a specific term.

You can also search messages: 

• From a specific user, 
• From a specified date, or
• Sent before and after the specified date. 

Rocket.Chat gives you unlimited access to your full chat history, even in the Free plan. 

Moreover, it allows you to search messages and use different filters, such as those for: 

• Messages you created,
• Messages created by a specific person, 
• Starred messages, or
• Messages sent within the chosen time frame.

The winner in this category is Mattermost because it offers more nuanced search options. 

Free Mattermost alternative

If you’re considering Mattermost — try Pumble, for unlimited access to your entire message history.

FREE FOREVER • UNLIMITED COMMUNICATION

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Learn more

Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat file sharing and storage 1:1

File sharing is an integral part of our workdays and an absolute necessity for good collaboration. 

Mattermost enables you to share up to 10 files per post, with the default maximum file size of 100MB. 

At the same time, Rocket.Chat allows you to share:

• Files,
• Documents,
• Photos, and
• Videos.

Speaking of storage in their free plans, Mattermost offers 10GB of storage.

Furthermore, the most affordable Mattermost paid plan ($10 monthly per user) offers you an impressive 250GB of storage.

Rocket.Chat, on the other hand, uses external storage.

Since both apps offer good file sharing and storage options, in this category, we have a tie.

Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat integrations 1:0

Third-party integrations are crucial for a better remote work experience and a streamlined workflow.

Mattermost boasts more than 600 integrations with plugins, extensions, and bots. 

However, in the free plan, Mattermost offers only 5 integrations. 

On the other hand, Rocket.Chat integrates with more than 100 apps in 26 different categories.

Thanks to a greater number of integrations, Mattermost is the winner in this category.

Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat support 1:1

In its free plan, Mattermost offers a standard support system, including: 

• Email/Help Desk
• FAQs/Forum
• Knowledge Base

Moreover, in its paid plans, Mattermost offers more serious support:

• Business hours support (in the Professional plan), and
• Guaranteed support 24/7, with a 4-hour response time (in the Enterprise plan).

Available add-ons in the Enterprise plans include:

• Premier support — Mission-critical 24×7,
• US-only based support, and
• Dedicated virtual secure cloud deployment (Cloud).

On the other hand, in its free plan, Rocket.Chat offers:

• Peer-to-peer community assistance, and
• Help desk/Knowledge base.

Rocket.Chat’s Enterprise plan comes with an additional Web support portal.

Moreover, among Enterprise add-ons are:

• Phone & email support,
• 2-hour high-priority tickets, and
• Dedicated CSM.

Both Mattermost and Rocket.Chat provide you with outstanding support, including customer success teams. That is precisely why we have a tie in this category. 

Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat security 1:1

Last but not least — security — a vital feature for communication and collaboration.

Aside from supporting encryption-in-transit and encryption-at-rest, Mattermost is compliant with: 

• HIPAA 
• FINRA
• SOC 2 Type I
• GDPR 
• CCPA

On the other hand, Rocket.Chat is also audited against compliance and assurance programs, such as:

• ISO 27001
• GDPR
• HIPAA
• FINRA 
• FedRAMP

Both apps offer a self-hosted option.

In this category, we have a draw, as both apps go to extreme lengths to keep your data secure. 

Mattermost vs Rocket.Chat Verdict 7:5

All that’s left is to crown the winner of this showdown — Mattermost.

We did our part — gave you a detailed comparison of Mattermost and Rocket.Chat and crowned the winner. 

Although both these apps offer attractive features, Mattermost triumphed over Rocket.Chat as a slightly better choice. 

Namely, Mattermost provides you with a more elaborate structure for communication and collaboration — it offers channels, playbooks, and boards.

Additionally, Mattermost enables you with a more advanced notification configuration, search options, and a greater number of integrations.

However, this doesn’t mean you have to choose either of these two communication platforms.

There are other options. 

Looking for a Mattermost or Rocket.Chat alternative? Try Pumble

If neither Mattermost nor Rocket.Chat fit your communication needs, you should consider Pumble, a business messaging platform.

Among other features, Pumble offers you:

• An intuitive, user-friendly interface, 
• Unlimited users and chat history for free, 
• Customizable notifications, 
• Guest access,
• Voice and video calls, as well as 
• 10GB of free storage space per workspace.