Rocket.Chat RocketChat/Rocket.Chat

Open core, self-hosted team chat with channels, threads, DMs, apps and federation; free Starter (50 users) and MIT Community editions.

Creator kit + Compare GitHub ↗ Install guide (official) ↗

Rocket.Chat at a glance

Checked 15 Oct 2026

Rocket.Chat is a mature TypeScript chat platform on MongoDB. Free options: Starter (up to 50 users, many premium features) and Community, the MIT open source edition (up to 100 concurrent users, core messaging only, 10,000 push notifications a month, video calls through Jitsi or BigBlueButton only). Code in the ee/ folders has a separate enterprise licence, and Rocket.Chat says Community is not for business-critical production. A small server needs 2 vCPU and 4 GiB RAM plus MongoDB. Calls go through external video tools, not built-in huddles.

Cite this pageRepoQuarry. “Rocket.Chat.” Checked 15 Oct 2026. https://repoquarry.dev/projects/rocket-chat

How much of Slack does it replace?

4 of 5 jobs. Channels, threads, DMs, apps and search; free editions are capped at 50 users (Starter) or 100 concurrent users (Community). Calls need Jitsi, BigBlueButton or similar.

Channels and direct messages Partial replacement

Threaded conversations Partial replacement

Voice and video huddles Not covered

Integrations Partial replacement

Search and message history Partial replacement

For voice and video huddles, see other Slack alternatives. You may also need to build an interface, an API server and hosting yourself.

Facts, with sources

Every answer links to where we found it. We read the documentation; we did not install it.

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QuestionAnswerSourceChecked

Runs on my machine? Self-hosted (Docker, Podman, Kubernetes) or Rocket.Chat cloud hosting You can deploy using one of the recommended methods: Docker, Podman, or Kubernetes. github.com · Rocket.Chat#readme ↗ 1d ago

Code licence MIT for most code; apps/meteor/ee and ee directories under a separate enterprise licence Content outside of the above-mentioned directories or restrictions above is available under the MIT (Expat) license github.com · LICENSE ↗ 1d ago

Model weights licence No separate model weights github.com · Rocket.Chat#readme ↗ 1d ago

Commercial use Allowed, but Starter is capped at 50 users and Community at 100 concurrent users; vendor calls Community unsuitable for business-critical production Community is not suitable for production deployment by organizations that depend on Rocket.Chat for business-critical operations, compliance, or reliability. docs.rocket.chat · our-plans ↗ 1d ago

Paid services needed? None required within the free caps; Commercial, Government and Defense plans remove limits and add support Self-managed and self-hosted, for up to 50 users. docs.rocket.chat · our-plans ↗ 1d ago

Hardware Up to 500 concurrent users - Rocket.Chat 2 vCPU, 4 GiB RAM, 20 GiB disk; plus MongoDB 8.0+ (2 vCPU, 4 GiB per replica) Scenario: Starter - No high availability - Up to 500 concurrent users docs.rocket.chat · system-requirements ↗ 1d ago

Operating systems Server via Docker, Podman or Kubernetes; desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux (Snap); iOS and Android Get from Snapcraft for Linux github.com · Rocket.Chat#readme ↗ 1d ago

Setup effort Medium; Docker or Kubernetes plus a separately maintained MongoDB MongoDB must be installed and maintained separately to be compatible with your Rocket.Chat release. docs.rocket.chat · system-requirements ↗ 1d ago