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Self-Hosting Mattermost: The Complete Slack Replacement

Mattermost gives you everything Slack does — channels, threads, integrations — without per-user fees. Here's how to self-host it.

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Why Replace Slack?


Slack Pro costs $8.75/user/month. For a 50-person team, that's $5,250/year. Mattermost offers the same features — and more — for the cost of a $5/month server.


What Mattermost Offers


Core Features

  • Channels (public and private)
  • Direct messages and group messages
  • Threaded conversations
  • File sharing and search
  • Custom emoji and reactions
  • Voice and video calls (with plugin)
  • Screen sharing

    • Developer Features

  • Slash commands
  • Incoming and outgoing webhooks
  • Bot accounts
  • OAuth2 applications
  • Plugin system
  • API access

    • Enterprise Features (Free Edition)

  • LDAP/AD integration
  • SAML SSO
  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Data retention policies
  • Compliance exports

    • Deploying Mattermost on TinyPod


    1. Find Mattermost in the app catalog

    2. Deploy with 1 core and 1 GB RAM (minimum for teams up to 100)

    3. Access the setup page at your subdomain

    4. Create your admin account

    5. Invite your team


    Post-Setup Configuration


    Custom Branding

    Upload your logo, set a custom site name, choose a color theme.


    Integrations

    Connect Mattermost to your other tools:

  • GitHub/GitLab: Get notifications in channels
  • Jira/Plane: Create issues from messages
  • Jenkins/CI: Build notifications
  • Custom webhooks: Anything you can imagine

    • Mobile Apps

    Mattermost has native iOS and Android apps. Point them at your self-hosted instance URL.


    Email Notifications

    Configure SMTP for email notifications when users are offline. Use Mailgun or Amazon SES for reliable delivery.


    Slack Migration


    Mattermost includes a Slack import tool:

    1. Export your Slack workspace (Settings → Export)

    2. Use Mattermost's migration tool to import

    3. Messages, channels, and files are preserved


    The process takes minutes for most workspaces.


    Resource Scaling


  • Up to 50 users: 1 core, 1 GB RAM
  • 50-200 users: 2 cores, 2 GB RAM
  • 200-1000 users: 4 cores, 4 GB RAM

    • Mattermost scales well. A single TinyPod server handles teams of 200+ comfortably.