Rocket.Chat vs SimpleX Chat
| Tagline | Fully customizable open-source communications platform and Slack alternative | The most private chat platform — no user IDs, double ratchet E2E encryption |
| Category | Team Chat & Collaboration | Team Chat & Collaboration |
| Replaces | Slack, Microsoft Teams | Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams |
| GitHub stars | 46k | 11k |
| Language | TypeScript | Haskell |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 4/5 Involved |
| Deploy options | One-Click Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes Manual | Docker Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | today | today |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Rocket.Chat
- Resource-heavy (Node.js + MongoDB) and can be slow at scale on modest hardware
- Some enterprise features (engagement dashboard, scalability, advanced auth) require a paid plan
- UI can feel cluttered compared to Slack
- Mobile apps have historically lagged the web client in polish
SimpleX Chat
- No web client; primarily mobile-focused with a desktop CLI and early-stage desktop app.
- Self-hosting the SMP server requires manual Haskell build or Docker and knowledge of relay configuration.
- No workspace/org structure, channels, or administrative tooling suitable for business teams.
- Integrations and bots ecosystem is minimal compared to Slack or Discord.
Bottom line
Choose Rocket.Chat if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Rocket.Chat for the larger community and ecosystem. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Rocket.Chat
Fully customizable open-source communications platform and Slack alternative
SimpleX Chat
The most private chat platform — no user IDs, double ratchet E2E encryption