Self-Hosted Slack Alternatives

Slack is not available as a self-hosted solution but there are plenty of alternatives for power users and business that want to host a solution on-premise. The best Self-Hosted alternative is Element. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Element or Zulip. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Slack and loads of them are available as a self-hosted solution so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Self-Hosted alternatives to Slack are Rocket.Chat, Matrix, Wire and Mirotalk.

filter to find the best alternatives

Slack alternatives are mainly Group Chat Apps, but if you're looking for Team Collaboration Tools or Instant Messengers you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, Self-Hosted, Self-Hosted + Open Source and Free. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Slack.
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Alternatives list

  1. Element icon

    Element

     773 likes

    Provides secure collaboration with end-to-end encryption, supporting chat, voice, and video calls. Available on all major platforms, it enables digital sovereignty with a decentralized design and interoperability through bridges to systems like Slack and Teams. Includes enterprise-grade SaaS.

    302 Element alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • Matrix.org
    • Flathub
    • F-Droid
    • Cloudron
    • Snapcraft
    Video calls for desktop and mobile
     
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    13
    103
    Comments about Element as an Alternative to Slack
    Comment summary: Element is praised for being free, open-source, and decentralized, with strong privacy due to its encryption and adherence to the Matrix protocol. It offers federated communication, interoperability, and allows end-to-end encrypted messaging, enhancing user security and flexibility. Users appreciate its ability to bridge into other networks and its performance in team communication.
    Top Positive Comment
    brinerustle
    6

    because its open source, decentralised, and end-to-end secure. Plus the folks at matrix.org are working to get us out of our communication silos by creating standards for communication interoperability!

    Top Negative Comment
    davaga6837
    1

    Element is way too buggy and slow. It's actually totally free unlike the description which says it's not free. But, free isn't enough when the software is just buggy and slow.

    Dserver Hosting
    Positive
    1

    this is a open source and free software that is very useful for me

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    3 of 13 comments
    Slack Icon
    Element icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Element is a great Slack alternative.

    • Element is the most popular Web-based, Windows, Android & Mac alternative to Slack.

    • Element is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Slack.

    • Element is Free Personal and Open SourceSlack is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Element is Privacy focused and LightweightSlack is not according to our users
  2. Zulip icon

    Zulip

     265 likes

    Zulip is the only modern team chat app that is designed for both live and asynchronous conversations. Zulip topics create a separate space for each discussion, so different conversations will never get in each other's way.

    222 Zulip alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • BSD
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • F-Droid
    Zulip screenshot 1
     
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    76
    215
    Comments about Zulip as an Alternative to Slack
    Comment summary: Zulip is praised for its open-source nature and unique threading model, which many users find superior to Slack's, especially for organizing and categorizing conversations through Streams and Topics. It's particularly beneficial in professional settings with diverse team discussions. Users appreciate its vibrant community and flexibility, offering both self-hosted options and better value plans compared to Slack. Despite not being fully open-source, Zulip provides a robust alternative.
    Top Positive Comment
    Paulo Coghi
    10

    More than feature parity with Slack, it's better because of Streams and Topics. It offer the same free tier with 10.000 max messages and better paid plans to the hosted version, and also provide the open source self-hosted option to install it on your own server and also remove the max messages limits. 5 stars

    gilbertbw
    Positive
    0

    Zulip's threading model is no much richer than Slacks (where it feels like a bolted feature). This starts to become noticable at even just three person organisations and only gets more important as you grow. In addition the ability to self host gives smaller businesses more flexability than Slack.

    Jump5231
    Positive
    1

    Excellent organization of topics and sub topics, great phone and desktop app, and web interface, new features and incredible support

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    3 of 76 comments
    Slack Icon
    Zulip icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Zulip is a great Slack alternative.

    • Zulip is Free Personal and Open SourceSlack is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Zulip is Privacy focusedSlack is not according to our users
  4. Mattermost icon

    Mattermost

     253 likes

    Mattermost is a secure, open source platform for communication, collaboration, and workflow orchestration across tools and teams.

    130 Mattermost alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • JavaScript
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
    • Go (Programming Language)
    • Cloudron
    Mattermost screenshot 1
     
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    22
    186
    Comments about Mattermost as an Alternative to Slack
    Comment summary: Mattermost offers similar functionality and interface to Slack while providing increased control over data, enhanced privacy, and greater customization options. Users appreciate its open-source nature and the ability to self-host, contributing to reduced cost and more flexibility. While it matches Slack's features, some users expressed a preference for Slack's design.
    Top Positive Comment
    shelehovchanin
    6

    Same functionality. Same interface. At the same time, there are much fewer restrictions. IN my experience, the free version is great enough for a team of 100 people

    Top Negative Comment
    Alex Hoyau
    6

    Beware this is not free/libre software, not even fully open source, mattermost is open core (like freemium is not fully free/gratis)

    Indiana Lake
    Positive
    0

    Same with more emphasis on privacy.

    3 of 22 comments
    Slack Icon
    Mattermost icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Mattermost is a great Slack alternative.

    • Mattermost is the most popular SaaS alternative to Slack.

    • Mattermost is the most popular commercial alternative to Slack.

    • Mattermost is Paid and Open SourceSlack is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Mattermost is LightweightSlack is not according to our users
  5. Ad
    Screenshot
    Virola Messenger icon
    Virola Messenger

    Secure self-hosted platform unites private and group messaging, voice and video meetings, meeting recording, file transfer, issue tracking, screen sharing, remote control, and flexible permissions for on-premises collaboration in...

    https://virola.io
    Learn More
  6. Rocket.Chat icon

    Rocket.Chat

     160 likes

    Rocket.Chat is a Web Chat Server, developed in JavaScript, using the Meteor fullstack framework.

    142 Rocket.Chat alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • Cloudron
    Rocket.Chat screenshot 1
     
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    3
    81
    Comments about Rocket.Chat as an Alternative to Slack
    John Fastman
    Positive
    10

    Does everything Slack does AND it's open source. However, it's also self-hosted. This means you have to put in the effort to set it up, but you control your own data, which is a huge advantage to your privacy - your chats and files don't sit on someone else's servers, ready for them or hackers to look at.

    Guest
    Positive
    7

    Rocket.Chat comes very close to slack regarding it's core features and handling.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    2

    open source, locally hosted so you own your data.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Slack Icon
    Rocket.Chat icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Rocket.Chat is a great Slack alternative.

    • Rocket.Chat is Freemium and Open SourceSlack is Freemium and Proprietary
  7. Matrix icon

    Matrix

     383 likes

    Matrix defines a set of open APIs for decentralised communication, suitable for securely publishing, persisting and subscribing to data over a global open federation of servers with no single point of control.

    166 Matrix alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • WebRTC
    • Python
    • JavaScript
    • Go (Programming Language)
    • Cloudron
    • Java
    • Perl
    Main Page
     
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    7
    50
    Comments about Matrix as an Alternative to Slack
    Top Positive Comment
    Vladimir Studinsky
    2

    Open source, fecentralized, federation, chat-voice-video function.

    Top Negative Comment
    somegirlfromit
    18

    Matrix is a protocol, not a client.

    Guest
    Positive
    4

    Respects your Freedom. Increasingly popular

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    3 of 7 comments
    Slack Icon
    Matrix icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Matrix is a great Slack alternative.

    • Matrix is Free and Open SourceSlack is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Matrix is Privacy focused, Security-focused and LightweightSlack is not according to our users
  8. Wire icon

    Wire

     313 likes

    Wire is the most secure collaboration platform featuring messenger, voice, video, conference calls, file-sharing, and external collaboration –all protected by the most secure end-to-end-encryption.

    282 Wire alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • F-Droid
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
    • Flathub
    • Snapcraft
    Wire screenshot 1
    Wire screenshot 2
    Wire screenshot 3
     
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    27
  11. Nextcloud Talk icon

    Nextcloud Talk

     33 likes

    Self-hosted communication platform with secure audio, video, chat, web conferencing, screensharing, advanced encryption, and metadata privacy, running on user-controlled servers, supporting web and mobile apps, and eliminating third-party data exposure.

    109 Nextcloud Talk alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • Nextcloud
    • F-Droid
    • Flatpak
    • Chocolatey
    Nextcloud Talk screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Comments about Nextcloud Talk as an Alternative to Slack
    Guest
    Negative
    0

    Nextcloud Talk, like most of Nextcloud, is very heavyweight. So if you don't have a very good server, it's going to be very slow (for me it was around 10 seconds to send a single message)

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Slack Icon
    Nextcloud Talk icon
    • Nextcloud Talk is Free Personal and Open SourceSlack is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Nextcloud Talk is Privacy focusedSlack is not according to our users
  12. Twake icon

    Twake

     26 likes

    Twake is a real-time teamwork platform. It is a suite of collaborative tools that includes the specificities of some bestsellers (Slack, Trello, Google Drive...). We provide professional messaging, storage space, online collaborative editors (Words, Excel, PowerPoint), task...

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Open Source (AGPL-3.0)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
    Twake screenshot 1
     
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    1
    7
    Comments about Twake as an Alternative to Slack
    Guest
    Positive
    1

    I like Twake as an alternative to Slack because it is open-source.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Slack Icon
    Twake icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Twake is a great Slack alternative.

    • Twake is Freemium and Open SourceSlack is Freemium and Proprietary
  13. Element Pro icon

    Element Pro

     4 likes

    Element Pro is a secure enterprise communication app built on the Matrix protocol, designed for organizations that need encrypted, compliant, and fully controlled collaboration. It combines real-time messaging, voice and video calls, and file sharing with strong administrative...

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    Element Pro screenshot 1
     
  14. Tracim icon

    Tracim

     17 likes

    All you need in a team collaboration tool dedicated to small efficient teams. Chat, notes, drive, online collaborative edition, calendars, news, spaces, notifications...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Self-Hosted
     
  15. Adapt Chat icon

    Adapt Chat

     3 likes

    Grow a community, connect with your friends, or whatever you're capable of with Adapt, a lightweight and customizable messaging platform which favors your privacy.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Adapt client homepage
     
12 of 50 Slack alternatives