Mattermost vs Snikket
| Tagline | Open-source, self-hostable Slack alternative for secure team messaging and collaboration | XMPP-based private messenger server with easy one-command setup |
| Category | Team Chat & Collaboration | Team Chat & Collaboration |
| Replaces | Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord | Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams |
| GitHub stars | 38k | 700 |
| Language | Go | Lua |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 1/5 Effortless |
| Deploy options | One-Click Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes Manual | Docker Docker Compose |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 5 days ago | 1 month ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Mattermost
- Many advanced features (LDAP/AD, SAML/SSO, compliance exports, high availability) are gated behind paid Enterprise tiers
- Search and message UX feel less polished than Slack
- Voice/video calling is more limited than Teams' full meetings stack
- Smaller third-party app/integration marketplace than Slack
Snikket
- No public channels or community servers; designed for private groups only
- Federation with other XMPP servers has occasional compatibility edge cases
- Limited bot or integration support compared to Slack or Matrix
Bottom line
Choose Snikket if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Mattermost for the larger community and ecosystem. Mattermost has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Mattermost
Open-source, self-hostable Slack alternative for secure team messaging and collaboration