Updated August 2026
    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    39k

    Mattermost: Maintenance, Licence and Alternatives

    Platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle, can be integrated with Gitlab (alternative to Slack).

    TL;DR • Mattermost • as of August 2026

    Mattermost is an open-source communication project, with 39k GitHub stars and a health score of 100/100. It committed 1882 times in the last twelve months across 12 of those months, and its status is actively maintained. Licence: ⊘ Proprietary. It has real momentum, so treat it as a live competitor rather than a stale repository.

    39k
    GitHub stars
    100/100
    Health score
    1882
    Commits (12 mo)
    12/12
    Active months

    Maintenance health

    Status Actively maintained — Committed within the last 45 days.
    Last commit 2026-08-15
    Days since last commit 2
    Commits, last 3 months 486
    Commits, last 12 months 1882
    Months with activity 12 of 12
    Last release 2026-08-13
    Archived No
    Licence ⊘ Proprietary
    Category Communication

    Health score combines commit recency, twelve-month commit volume, months with activity, release recency and archive state. Metadata refreshed August 2026.

    What the licence lets you do

    ⊘ Proprietary

    Non-standard or mixed licensing. Check the repository before commercial use.

    This matters most when you plan to sell a hosted version. A permissive licence means anyone — including a competitor with more capital — can do the same, so your defensibility has to come from distribution, support or data, not from the code.

    What Mattermost means for your idea

    Crowded · 77/100
    Communication category →

    Mattermost is shipping code consistently, so a buyer comparing your product will find a maintained free option. Price and position against the total cost of self-hosting it, not against the paid incumbent's list price.

    Assume every prospect can find a free version in five minutes. Your wedge has to be something open source structurally cannot deliver: compliance, support SLAs, managed hosting at scale, or a workflow the maintainers refuse to build.

    Mattermost: common questions

    Is Mattermost still maintained in 2026?

    Actively maintained. Mattermost recorded 1882 commits over the last twelve months, with activity in 12 of those months and 486 commits in the last quarter. Last commit: 2026-08-15. Last release: 2026-08-13. Committed within the last 45 days.

    Can I use Mattermost commercially?

    Mattermost is published under ⊘ Proprietary. Non-standard or mixed licensing. Check the repository before commercial use.

    How crowded is the Communication category?

    177 open-source implementations, 100 of them actively maintained, led by Mastodon at 50k stars. Saturation score 77/100 — Crowded. Free, maintained alternatives already dominate this category.

    Mattermost alternatives in Communication

    Mastodon

    Alternative to Social network/ Micro-blogging

    50k

    Federated microblogging server.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    AGPL-3.0

    Discourse

    Alternative to Tribe, Circle, Community management

    48k

    Advanced forum / community solution based on Ruby and JS.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    GPL-2.0

    Rocket.Chat

    Alternative to Slack, Team communication, Chat & Team Communication

    46k

    Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack).

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    MIT

    Novu

    Alternative to Courier, MagicBell, Knock, Notification infrastructure, Push notifications

    40k

    Notification infrastructure for developers.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    MIT

    Chatwoot

    Alternative to Intercom, Zendesk, Live chat

    36k

    Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk).

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    ⊘ Proprietary

    ntfy

    Alternative to Notification infrastructure, Push notifications

    34k

    Push notifications to phone or desktop using HTTP PUT/POST, with Android app, CLI and web app, similar to Pushover and Gotify.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    Apache-2.0, GPL-2.0

    Competing with free? Check the market first.

    IdeaProof scores your idea against live competitors, market size and 1,000+ documented startup failures in about two minutes.