Team chat & community
11 SaaS · open-source self-host alternatives in this vertical
Every SaaS in this category, paired with its primary open-source self-host alternative. Each link drills into the full comparison page (license, setup time, monthly cost, migration sketch). Managed-hosting picks for self-hosters: managed Mattermost, Rocket.Chat, Discourse, Chatwoot, or Jitsi.
- Discord Community / voice chat
- Discourse Hosting (Discourse.org) Community / forum hostingPrimary self-host alt: Discourse (self-host) · discourse/discourse ·
GPL-2.0· 30min — `discourse_docker` standalone install on a fresh Ubuntu - Help Scout Customer support helpdesk / shared inboxPrimary self-host alt: FreeScout · freescout-help-desk/freescout ·
AGPL-3.0· 20min docker-compose (PHP + MariaDB) - Intercom In-app messenger + customer support
- Loom Async video messagingPrimary self-host alt: Cap · CapSoftware/Cap ·
AGPL-3.0· 30min (Cap Web — Next.js app + Postgres + S3-compatible store) - Microsoft Teams Team chat + video meetingsPrimary self-host alt: Mattermost · mattermost/mattermost ·
AGPL-3.0· 20min docker-compose (Go server + Postgres) - Reddit Threaded community / forumPrimary self-host alt: Lemmy · LemmyNet/lemmy ·
AGPL-3.0· 30min docker-compose (Rust backend + Postgres + UI + pict-rs for images) - Slack Team chatPrimary self-host alt: Mattermost · mattermost/mattermost ·
AGPL-3.0 (Team Edition) / Source Available (Enterprise)· 15min docker-compose - Twitter / X Microblogging social networkPrimary self-host alt: Mastodon · mastodon/mastodon ·
AGPL-3.0· 1h docker-compose (Rails app + Postgres + Redis + Sidekiq + ElasticSearch) - Zendesk Customer support / helpdeskPrimary self-host alt: Chatwoot · chatwoot/chatwoot ·
MIT (Community Edition) / Enterprise license for some features· 20min docker-compose - Zoom Video conferencingPrimary self-host alt: Jitsi Meet · jitsi/jitsi-meet ·
Apache-2.0· 15-30min (Debian package + nginx)