Borrow, Don't Build · Team Chat
Mattermost, built into your software
Your systems post alerts, approvals and daily summaries into the team chat your people already read, instead of another inbox nobody checks.
Open-source team chat you can run yourself
Mattermost does what Slack does: channels, direct messages, threads, file sharing, calls, and desktop and phone apps. The difference is that it can run on your own server, so your conversations stay with you.
There are two free ways to run it yourself. Team Edition is open source under the MIT licence and aimed at teams under 250 people, though single sign-on is being removed from it. Entry is a free mode of the Enterprise edition with usage limits, such as 10,000 messages of visible history. Paid plans add compliance and administration features. Details checked against Mattermost's own documentation on 9 October 2026, and they do change, so we check again before every job.
What your software can do with it
Alerts that get seen
New orders over a certain value, failed payments, stock running low, a server struggling: posted into the right channel the moment they happen.
Approvals with buttons
A discount, a refund or a purchase order needs signing off. The request lands in chat with Approve and Reject buttons, and the answer goes straight back to your system.
Daily and weekly summaries
Yesterday's sales, today's despatches, this week's sign-ups, posted at the same time every day so nobody has to go looking.
Commands from chat
Type a short command to look up an order or a customer and get the answer back in the channel.
A bot for your system
Your software gets its own named account in chat, so it is clear which messages come from the system and which from people.
Plugins for the bigger jobs
When webhooks are not enough, Mattermost plugins let us add new features inside the chat itself.
We use Mattermost's webhooks, API and plugin system. We never change Mattermost's own code, so you keep taking updates. More on the approach in borrow, don't build.
Is Mattermost right for you?
A good fit when
- You want team chat on your own server
- Your systems produce alerts and approvals that get lost in email
- You are paying per user for Slack and want out
- You need chat that works when internet services are restricted
Think twice when
- Your team already lives in Microsoft Teams or Slack: we can post into those instead
- You need single sign-on on the free Team Edition
- Nobody will look after updates
- Chat is not where your team actually works
The honest summary: if your team is happy in Teams or Slack, we will connect your systems to those instead. The integration work is much the same. Mattermost earns its place when you want the chat itself on your own server.
Mattermost self-hosted cost, and Mattermost vs Slack pricing
Mattermost self-hosted cost
The Mattermost self-hosted cost is mostly the server and the looking after. Team Edition is free and open source. Entry is a free mode of the Enterprise edition with limits: 10,000 messages of visible history, no high availability and community support only, and Mattermost's documentation says it suits teams of under 50. A small server runs either comfortably.
Mattermost pricing, self-hosted plans
Paid Mattermost pricing for self-hosted plans is not published. When we checked mattermost.com/pricing on 11 October 2026, Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced were all "contact sales", sold as prepaid annual subscriptions per seat. Software directories list Professional at around $10 per user per month, but get a quote before you budget on it.
Mattermost vs Slack pricing
Slack's UK prices, checked on slack.com/pricing on 11 October 2026: the free plan keeps 90 days of message history, Pro is £5.75 per user per month paid annually (£7 monthly) and Business+ is £12 per user per month paid annually (£14.40 monthly). So 30 people on Slack Pro is about £2,070 a year. On Mattermost vs Slack pricing, the free Team Edition costs nothing per user; you pay for hosting and upkeep instead. Slack has far more ready-made integrations, though, and if your team is happy there, we will connect your systems to Slack rather than move you.
What people ask us
Yes. Both accept messages from other systems in a similar way, and both can do buttons for approvals. If your team already uses one of them, that is usually the right place for the alerts to go.
There are free ways to run it yourself, with limits: Team Edition is aimed at teams under 250 people and is losing single sign-on, and the free Entry mode limits visible message history. Paid plans remove the limits and add enterprise features. We will tell you which fits before you commit.
Usually on a UK server alongside your other systems, or on your own servers. Mattermost also sells a hosted version.
The free Team Edition has no licence cost, so you pay for a small server and for someone to keep it updated and backed up. Paid plans add compliance and admin features, and Mattermost prices those per seat on request.
Want your systems talking to your team?
Tell us what you want to hear about, and when.
Which systems you run, what your team needs to know quickly, and whether you already use a chat tool. If posting into Teams or Slack is the better answer, we will say so.
We reply within one working day.
