38 self-hosted apps
Best self-hosted Team Chat apps
Self-hosted messaging, team chat and push notification platforms. A private alternative to Slack, Discord and hosted messengers.
The most popular self-hosted apps for team chat on GitHub are Rocket.Chat, Novu and Mattermost, ranked by stars below.
Ranked by GitHub stars
All 38 Team Chat apps
Rocket.Chat
RocketChat/Rocket.Chat
Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack).
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptDockerNovu
novuhq/novu
Notification infrastructure for developers.
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptDockerMattermost
mattermost/mattermost
Platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle, can be integrated with Gitlab (alternative to Slack).
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptDockerChatwoot
chatwoot/chatwoot
Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk).
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatRubyDockerntfy
binwiederhier/ntfy
Push notifications to phone or desktop using HTTP PUT/POST, with Android app, CLI and web app, similar to Pushover and Gotify.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatGoDockerZulip
zulip/zulip
Zulip is a powerful, open source group chat application.
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatPythonSimpleX Chat
simplex-chat/simplex-chat
The most private and secure chat and applications platform - now with double ratchet E2E encryption.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatHaskellApprise
caronc/apprise
Apprise allows you to send a notification to almost all of the most popular notification services available to us today such as: Telegram, Discord, Slack, Amazon SNS, Gotify, etc.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatPythonDockerOpenWA
rmyndharis/OpenWA
WhatsApp API gateway exposing messaging as REST endpoints, with a web dashboard, multi-account sessions, and webhook events (alternative to WhatsApp Business API providers).
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptDockerGotify
gotify/server
Notification server with Android and CLI clients (alternative to PushBullet).
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatGoDockerElement
element-hq/element-web
Fully-featured Matrix client for Web, iOS & Android.
Active · last commit Oct 23, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptTinode
tinode/chat
Instant messaging platform. Backend in Go. Clients: Swift iOS, Java Android, JS webapp, scriptable command line; chatbots.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatGoCentrifugo
centrifugal/centrifugo
Language-agnostic real-time messaging (Websocket or SockJS) server.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatGoDockerScreego
screego/server
Screego is a simple tool to quickly share your screen to one or multiple people via web browser.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatGoDockerFluxer
fluxerapp/fluxer
Instant messaging and VoIP platform built for friends, groups, and communities (alternative to Discord).
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptDockerTypebot
baptisteArno/typebot.io
Conversational app builder (alternative to Typeform and Landbot).
Active · last commit Oct 23, 2026
Source-availableTeam ChatTypeScriptDockerMumble
mumble-voip/mumble
Low-latency, high quality voice/text chat software.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatC++WorkAdventure
workadventure/workadventure
Virtual office / virtual conference application presented as a 16-bit RPG video game.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptDockerSynapse
element-hq/synapse
Server for Matrix, an open standard for decentralized persistent communication.
Active · last commit Oct 24, 2026
Team ChatPythonOne Time Secret
onetimesecret/onetimesecret
Share sensitive information securely with self-destructing links that are only viewable once.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatRubyDockerTox
TokTok/c-toxcore
Distributed, secure messenger with audio and video chat capabilities.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatCTuwunel
matrix-construct/tuwunel
High-performance and feature-rich chat server for Matrix, and the successor to conduwuit (fork of Conduit).
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatRustDockerStoat
stoatchat/self-hosted
Stoat is a user-first chat platform built with modern web technologies.
Active · last commit Oct 7, 2026
Team ChatJavaScriptDockerWBO
lovasoa/whitebophir
Web Whiteboard to collaborate in real-time on schemas, drawings, and notes.
Active · last commit Oct 24, 2026
Team ChatJavaScriptDockerAnyCable
anycable/anycable
Realtime server for reliable two-way communication over WebSockets, Server-sent events, etc.
Active · last commit Oct 21, 2026
Team ChatGoDockerChitchatter
jeremyckahn/chitchatter
Peer-to-peer chat app that is serverless, decentralized, and ephemeral.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptLive Helper Chat
LiveHelperChat/livehelperchat
Live Support chat for your website.
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatPHPRetroShare
RetroShare/RetroShare
Secured and decentralized communication system. Offers decentralized chat, forums, messaging, file transfer.
Active · last commit Oct 8, 2026
Team ChatC++GlobaLeaks
globaleaks/globaleaks-whistleblowing-software
Whistleblowing software enabling anyone to easily set up and maintain a secure reporting platform.
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Team ChatPythonDockerDatabag
balzack/databag
Federated, end-to-end encrypted messaging service for the web, iOS, and Android, supporting text, photos, video, and WebRTC video and audio calls.
Maintained · last commit Jun 14, 2026
Team ChatTypeScriptDockerHyphanet
hyphanet/fred
Anonymously share files, browse and publish freesites (web sites accessible only through Hyphanet) and chat on forums.
Active · last commit Sep 19, 2026
Team ChatJavaNotifo
notifo-io/notifo
Multichannel notification server with support for Email, Mobile Push, Web Push, SMS, messaging and a javascript plugin.
Maintained · last commit Sep 20, 2026
Team ChatC#OTS
Luzifer/ots
One-Time-Secret sharing platform with a symmetric 256bit AES encryption in the browser.
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Team ChatGoSpectrum 2
SpectrumIM/spectrum2
Spectrum 2 is an open source instant messaging transport. It allows users to chat together even when they are using different IM networks.
Active · last commit Oct 24, 2026
Team ChatC++Shhh
smallwat3r/shhh
Keep secrets out of emails or chat logs, share them using secure links with passphrase and expiration dates.
Active · last commit Oct 9, 2026
Team ChatPythonPushBits
pushbits/server
Notification server for relaying push notifications via Matrix, similar to PushBullet and Gotify.
Maintained · last commit Jan 10, 2026
Team ChatGoTiledesk
Tiledesk/tiledesk
All-in-one customer engagement platform from lead-gen to post-sales, from WhatsApp to your website. With omni-channel live agents and AI-powered chatbots (alternative to Intercom, Zendesk, Tawk.to…
Active · last commit Oct 23, 2026
Team ChatMustacheDockerSAMA
SAMA-Communications/sama-server
Next-Gen self-hosted chat server and clients.
Active · last commit Oct 5, 2026
Team ChatJavaScriptDocker
From the blog
Articles about team chat
Comparisons, rankings and guides on the appsgit blog for team chat apps.
What is the best self-hosted app for team chat?
By GitHub stars, Rocket.Chat is the most popular self-hosted app for team chat with 46,329 stars, followed by Novu and Mattermost. The best fit depends on your needs, so compare Docker support, license and recent activity on each app page.
Are these Team Chat apps free?
Mostly. 37 of the 38 apps here are open source; 1 is source-available. The open-source apps are free to run on your own server; source-available licenses add conditions, such as limits on hosted, commercial or production use, so check the license on each app page. A few projects also offer a paid hosted plan or enterprise add-ons.
How do I install a self-hosted Team Chat app?
22 of the 38 apps here ship a Docker image, which is the easiest route: rent a small VPS or use a home server, install Docker, and start the app with its Docker Compose file. Apps without an image list their native install steps in the README.
Which Team Chat apps are most actively developed?
Measured by commits in the last twelve months, the most active projects are One Time Secret (14,991 commits), OpenWA (6,366 commits) and Zulip (5,095 commits). Active development usually means faster bug fixes and security patches.