Rocket.Chat
Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack).
Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Still maintained? Yes: 721 commits in the last 90 days, latest release 8.9.0 (Oct 2026).
Also an alternative to Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord.
At a glance
Rocket.Chat quick facts
- Health score
- 99/100 GOOD
- Stars
- 46,353
- Last commit
- today (Oct 2026)
- Latest release
- 8.9.0, Oct 2026
- Licence
- MIT
Top alternatives to Rocket.Chat
Full rankings: Slack alternatives, Microsoft Teams alternatives, Discord alternatives
In its own words
The project's README opens: "Rocket.Chat is an open-source, secure, fully customizable communications platform developed in TypeScript for organizations with high standards of data protection."
Why it ranks here
Health score explained
Rocket.Chat scores 99/100, #1 of 44 in Communication - Custom Communication Systems: 721 commits in the last 90 days earn 35.0 of 35 points, the latest release (8.9.0, 25 days ago) earns 25.0 of 25, 46,353 stars add 18.7 of 20, an active, unarchived repository keeps 10 and Docker support adds the final 10. That places it in the good band (70 and above). The biggest shortfall is star count, worth 1.3 more points.
Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.
Health over time
- Commit activity 35.0 / 35
721 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)
- Release recency 25.0 / 25
8.9.0 released 25 days ago
- Stars biggest shortfall 18.7 / 20
46k stars on GitHub (logarithmic)
- Not archived 10.0 / 10
Repository is active
- Docker support 10.0 / 10
Docker image or Compose file available
Commit activity
- 721
- Last 90 days
- 2,517
- Last 12 months
- today
- Last push
Ranked #1 of 44 tools in Communication - Custom Communication Systems by health , just above Chatwoot (#2) .
Details
| Licence | MIT |
| Platforms | Nodejs, Docker, K8S |
| Latest release | 8.9.0 · 25 days ago |
| Stars | 46,353 |
| Open issues | 2,509 |
| Docker | Yes |
| Repository | RocketChat/Rocket.Chat ↗ |
Rocket.Chat vs its top 5 alternatives
Active tools that share a comparison page or a category with Rocket.Chat (Communication - Custom Communication Systems), scored on the same five terms.
| Tool | Health | Stars | Licence | Last commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocket.Chat (this tool) | 99 | 46k | MIT | today |
| Chatwoot | 98 | 39k | ⊘ Proprietary | today |
| Mattermost | 98 | 39k | ⊘ Proprietary | today |
| Zulip | 88 | 26k | Apache-2.0 | today |
| Element | 87 | 14k | Apache-2.0 | today |
| Tinode | 87 | 14k | GPL-3.0 | 5 days ago |
Rocket.Chat: common questions
What does Rocket.Chat replace?
Repoly lists Rocket.Chat as an open-source alternative to Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord. Each comparison page ranks every alternative by the same health score, so you can see where Rocket.Chat stands against the others.
Is Rocket.Chat still maintained?
Rocket.Chat had 721 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was today; the latest tagged release, 8.9.0, is from 25 days ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.
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