# Mattermost Professional vs Rocket.Chat Community (2026): Free Alternative to Mattermost Professional

Canonical: https://caniforkit.com/vs/mattermost-professional-vs-rocket-chat-community
Last updated: 2026-08-10

Compare Mattermost Professional ($10/mo) vs Rocket.Chat Community ($0/mo open source MIT alternative to Mattermost Professional). Side-by-side breakdown of pricing, self-hosting setup, data storage, and practical trade-offs.

## Side-by-Side Comparison Matrix

| Feature / Metric | Mattermost Professional | Rocket.Chat Community |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly Subscription | $10/mo | $0.00 / month |
| 1-Seat Annual Cost | $120/yr | $0.00 / year |
| 5-Person Team Annual Cost | $600/yr | $0.00 / year |
| 10-Person Team Annual Cost | $1,200/yr | $0.00 / year |
| License Model | Proprietary Commercial SaaS | MIT |
| Hosting / Runtime | Vendor Cloud | Self-host |
| Data Ownership | Stored on vendor servers | Users, rooms, messages, and most metadata live in MongoDB; uploads live on local storage or a configured object-storage backend. |
| GitHub Stars | Closed Source | ★ 46k |
| Code Repository | None | https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat |
| The Catch / Trade-off | Recurring subscription cost | Rocket.Chat Community provides the expected team-chat surface, but MongoDB and upgrades are yours and the free Community workspace is limited to 100 concurrent users. |

## About Rocket.Chat Community
Channels, threads, search and integrations for up to a hundred concurrent users; MongoDB joins the team.

- **Installation**: Deploy the Community workspace with Docker Compose, Podman, or Kubernetes
- **Setup Notes**: A production installation requires MongoDB, DNS/TLS, email, backups, upgrades, and enough capacity planning to stay within the Community plan's 100-concurrent-user limit.
- **Data Storage**: Users, rooms, messages, and most metadata live in MongoDB; uploads live on local storage or a configured object-storage backend.
- **Supported Platforms**: desktop, mobile, web, self-hosted, self-host, real ops
- **The Catch vs Mattermost Professional**: Rocket.Chat Community provides the expected team-chat surface, but MongoDB and upgrades are yours and the free Community workspace is limited to 100 concurrent users.

## Cost Savings Breakdown
Switching from Mattermost Professional to Rocket.Chat Community eliminates ongoing per-seat subscriptions:
- **Solo / 1-seat**: Save **$120/year**
- **5-person team**: Save **$600/year**
- **10-person team**: Save **$1,200/year**

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Is Rocket.Chat Community a good free alternative to Mattermost Professional?
Yes. Rocket.Chat Community is a verified open source (MIT) replacement for Mattermost Professional. Channels, threads, search and integrations for up to a hundred concurrent users; MongoDB joins the team.

### What is the catch when switching from Mattermost Professional to Rocket.Chat Community?
Rocket.Chat Community provides the expected team-chat surface, but MongoDB and upgrades are yours and the free Community workspace is limited to 100 concurrent users.

## Related

- [All Mattermost Professional Alternatives](https://caniforkit.com/mattermost-professional)
- [Rocket.Chat Community Full Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/rocket-chat-community)
- [community Category Hub](https://caniforkit.com/category/community)
- [All Paid SaaS Alternatives Index](https://caniforkit.com/alternatives)