Discord vs Mattermost
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Discord is free tier available, Mattermost is custom pricing — quote required.
- How to start: Discord is free tier available, Mattermost is custom pricing — quote required.
- Where they differ: only Mattermost has open source / self-hostable and sso (saml); both offer public api and mobile app.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Discord is
What Discord isDiscord has evolved from a 'chat app for gamers' into the primary hub for online communities and developers worldwide. Its server-based structure allows for the perfect organization of massive groups through channels and roles. With best-in-class low-latency voice chat, screen sharing, and a massive bot ecosystem, it is essential for both hobby groups and dev teams. As the home of major AI communities like Midjourney, Discord is now at the very center of the modern tech world.
What Mattermost is
What Mattermost isMattermost is team messaging you can run on your own infrastructure, with a Slack-like interface and strong compliance features. Self-hosting is the entire point: message history stays on servers you control, which is what makes it viable for defence, healthcare and regulated finance where a hosted chat service is simply not permitted. The interface is close enough to Slack that migration costs little in training, and the source is open, so the deployment cannot be discontinued from outside.
Side by side
| Discord | Mattermost | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Communication | Communication |
| How to start | Free tiernot a monthly price | Quote onlynot a monthly price |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | Yes |
| SSO (SAML) | No | Yes |
| Visit | Discord ↗ | Mattermost ↗ |
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What Discord is built to do
- Voice & Video Channels
- 'Always-on' rooms where you can jump in and start talking instantly.
- Bot Integrations
- Install bots to manage your community, play games, or pull news feeds.
- Stage Channels
- Host live broadcasts and conferences for thousands of listeners simultaneously.
- App Directory
- Explore thousands of apps to transform your Discord server into a functional app.
What Mattermost is built to do
- Self-hosted
- Runs on your own servers or private cloud, with message data never leaving them.
- Open source
- The server is open source, so a deployment cannot be withdrawn by a vendor.
- Compliance export
- Legal hold, audit logging and export formats built for regulated environments.
- Familiar interface
- Channels, threads and integrations close enough to Slack to keep training short.
Choose Discord if
- Gamers, Developer Communities, and AI Artists.
Choose Mattermost if
- Teams that must self-host: Professional is self-hosted and supports a maximum of 250 users
- Organisations needing scale — Enterprise scales to 50,000 concurrent users, Enterprise Advanced to 200,000
- Regulated environments that need compliance export and eDiscovery, available from Enterprise
Skip Mattermost if
- You need a published price — no per-user figure is listed; every tier requires contacting sales
- You are above 250 users but only budgeted for Professional; that tier is capped there
- You need SSO/SAML or guest accounts on the free edition — both start at Professional
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Discord
Sources have not been attached to this record yet.
Discord: pros & cons
- Best Voice Quality: Latency in voice channels is near-zero for clear communication.
- Bot Ecosystem: Fully customize your server for everything from moderation to games.
- Free Core Features: All basic tools are free for an unlimited number of users.
- Role Management: Easily manage your community by granting specific permissions to members.
- Complex UI: It can be easy for new users to get lost among dozens of channels and settings.
- Privacy: Data privacy policies are not as strict as apps like Slack or Signal.
- File Upload Limits: The free version has a very low limit for file attachment sizes.
Mattermost: pros & cons
- Fully self-hostable, including in air-gapped environments
- Familiar channel-based interface
- Open source core
- Ecosystem of integrations is smaller than Slack's
- You carry the upgrade and backup burden
- Mobile apps lag behind commercial rivals
Our verdict on Discord
The world's best platform for building and managing dynamic online communities.
Our verdict on Mattermost
The right call when self-hosting is non-negotiable. Otherwise the convenience gap with hosted chat is wide.
Discord vs Mattermost: common questions
- Does Discord or Mattermost have a free plan?
- Discord has a free tier with limits, while Mattermost has no free plan listed.
- What is the difference between Discord and Mattermost?
- On the criteria we check, only Mattermost has open source / self-hostable and sso (saml); both offer public api and mobile app. The table above lists every criterion side by side.