Dendrite vs Mattermost
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Dendrite
Second-generation Matrix homeserver written in Go
VS
Mattermost
Secure collaboration for developer teams
| Feature | Dendrite | Mattermost |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Matrix & XMPP | Team Chat |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,632 | ★ 38,708 |
| First released | 2017 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Slack, Discord | Slack, Microsoft Teams |
Why pick each one
Choose Mattermost if…
- Great for technical teams
- Strong security posture
- Good integrations
Frequently asked questions
Is Dendrite or Mattermost better?
Neither is universally better. Mattermost has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Dendrite and Mattermost free and open-source?
Yes. Dendrite is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Mattermost under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dendrite and Mattermost with Docker?
Dendrite: yes. Mattermost: yes.