So slack is costly, centralized and way too necessary for your organization. Maybe you want to move to an open source alternative or you want to make sure your super important info is not being read by 3rd parties. This repository contains some docker-compose files so you can try some of the open-source alternatives to Slack.
Some bullet-points about licenses/costs of each solution:
| # | Chat | AD Integration | Extensible | Documentation | Tech | License | Mobile | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rocket.Chat | Yes | ✓ | Good | JS/Meteor | MIT | ✓ | Free/BYOS |
| 1 | Mattermost | AD/LDAP | ✓ | Good | Golang-React | MIT | ✓ | Free/BYOS |
| 2 | Zulip | YES | ✓ | Ok | Python | Apache License 2.0 | ✓ | Free/BYOS |
| 2 | MS Teams | YES | ✓ | Good | N/A | Commercial | ✓ | Depends |
| 2 | Gitter | Not Clear | with API | Good | N/A | Commercial | ✓ | SaaS |
| 2 | Flowdock | Not Clear | ✓ | Good | N/A | Commercial | ✓ | SaaS |
| 4 | Matrix | No | Not Clear | Ok | Node.js | MIT | No | Free/BYOS |
| 4 | Wire | No | Not Clear | Insufficient | N/A | GNU AFFERO | ✓ | SaaS/OS |
| 5 | Let's Chat | YES | X | Minimum | Node.js | MIT | No | Free/BYOS |
To test yourself the options just call the start.sh command in the
repository. docker-compose is required!
docker-compose -f rocketchat.yml up # Available at: localhost:3000
docker-compose -f mattermost.yml up # Available at: localhost:8065
docker-compose -f letschat.yml up # Available at: localhost:8080
- zulip
- matrix
SaaS and self-hosted chat service written in NodeJS. Plugins for Pidgin/Drupal available but also iOS/Android/Desktop.
Provides Webhook support, but also Hubot and other integrations like Google Calendar and Zapier.
Canonical, SteadyMD, Lisk, AEB (Brazilian Space Agency), Southeastern
SaaS with self-hosted "Team" option that is free. Is written in Golang, and works through a fremium model. AD integration is part of their "Enterprise" package at 39/user/year.
They have over 131 integrations including Hubot and Zapier.
Mobile(iOS & Android) Desktop (Linux, Windows, Mac) clients available
For administration, they support a CLI
There's an experimental feature for default channels a user should be added to: https://docs.mattermost.com/administration/config-settings.html#default-channels-experimental
Samsung, Virgin, DOD, Bristol-Myers Squibb, SAS, CERN
Python open source group chat application with real-time chat and threaded conversations. All installation is around Ubuntu.
It's extensible and provides over 90 native integrations Including IFTTT/Zapier/Hubot.
They have a Mobile App written in React-Native for both Android and iOS
Akamai, dr on demand, LevelUp, RecurseCenter, Panjiva, Layershift, SolanoLabs, Veelo
Microsoft's solution for real-time collaboration including chat and video-conferencing.
Many apps are provided including Hubot and others
Clients for iOS/Android Desktop Windows and OSX provided.
Pricing oscillates between 8USD/month and 35usd/month. But there are other plans and it migth be already included with Office 365. Special prices for education orgs apply
https://stackshare.io/microsoft-teams
Communication service focused on security. It's cost is as low as 4USD/USER/Month and although they have their Backend Open-Sourced there's no documentation on how to run it.
It provides Mobile apps for Android/iOS/Linux/Windows/Browser. The clients are also Open Source.
There are no extensions available.
N/A
Commercial Chat solution with clients for iOS, Linux, Mac, Windows.
It has a SaaS business model with the low price of 5usd/user. But also offers a free plan.
There are [some integrations available])(https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitter/webapp/blob/master/docs/integrations.md)
Airbnb, AWS, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla Science Lab, Rails, Scala and more
Commercial communication solution from CA with clients for OSX, iOS, Android and Windows.
Provides integration with other third party apps.
The cost is as low as 3/USD/USER/Month
N/A
NodeJS MIT licensed chat. Focused on small groups and with basic integrations for Hubot and authentications services like Kerberos, LDAP. The project is not actively developed nor maintained
There isn't a native application for iOS nor Android. Only browser support.
N/A
Matrix is a network for descentralized communication. It specifies a set of RESTful HTTP JSON APIs as an open standard and different clients support such specification. One of the clients is the Riot.IM messaging
Mozilla, Ericsson, Amdocs, Deutsche Telekom, Thales