Rocket.Chat

Rocket.Chat is a self-hostable team chat platform with channels, threads, voice and video, an omnichannel inbox and an apps engine, chosen by organisations that want Slack-style messaging on their own servers. Two free options exist: the open source Community edition and the free Starter plan, both self-managed.

What the free plan gives you

The Community edition is open source and free to run for up to 100 concurrent users. It covers core messaging, channels and direct messages, basic identity management and video calls through Jitsi or BigBlueButton, with push notifications capped at 10,000 a month and limited app integrations. The Starter plan is also free, self-managed only, and supports up to 50 users with unlimited push notifications, one workspace per organisation, marketplace apps via the Apps Engine, LDAP and Active Directory authentication, single sign-on (SAML, OAuth, OpenID Connect), multi-factor authentication and mobile data-at-rest encryption. Both come with community support and documentation only.

Where the free plan stops

The user caps are the hard edges: 50 users on Starter or 100 concurrent on Community. Community also runs out of push notifications quickly for an active mobile team, and lacks the SSO and LDAP that Starter includes. Beyond those numbers you move to the Commercial plan, which is quote-based; Rocket.Chat no longer publishes a per-user price, and the previous Pro plan was retired for new purchases on 29 April 2026.

Who it suits

Small companies, non-profits and technical evaluations under 50 users should pick Starter for the SSO and unlimited push, provided they can host it. Community suits open source projects and hobbyist servers that do not need enterprise auth. Teams above 100 users, or anyone wanting Rocket.Chat to host it, need to talk to sales.