{"slug": "rocket-chat", "name": "Rocket.Chat", "category": "communication", "category_name": "Email and chat", "description": "", "recommenders": 2, "commenters": 5, "warners": 1, "score": 1.222, "rising": 0.67, "first": "2026-01-18", "latest": "2026-10-11", "why": "i'd probably use RocketChat or something like that", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 0, "compare": 2, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "i'd probably use RocketChat or something like that", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/rocketchat/rocket.chat", "official_url": "https://github.com/rocketchat/rocket.chat", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Rocket.Chat", "Rocket.chat", "RocketChat"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 800680289, "item_id": 50042518, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50042518", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i'd probably use RocketChat or something like that", "excerpt": "Just yesterday i was working on my game engine for the original Xbox using the open source NXDK kit (which is much lower level than the official XDK) and i finally, after literal years, managed to find and fix a couple of bugs that caused flickering (much more obscure than you'd expect and didn't show up even in the emulator). So i decided to share it with a couple friends and retro enthusiast communities on Discord.", "context": "retro game dev making an Xbox game engine", "use_case": "self-hosted community chat", "switched_from": "", "story": "IRCv3"}, {"id": 749788544, "item_id": 46861784, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46861784", "by": "nix0n", "date": "2026-02-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Rocket chat[0] is also worth looking at.", "excerpt": "If you are looking for another self-hostable alternative to Slack, Rocket chat[0] is also worth looking at. I wasn't involved in any of the Dev Ops aspect when my former employer used them, but the search function actually worked which is better than I can say for Slack. [0]https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/blob/develop/LICENSE", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted team chat", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mattermost say they will not clarify what license the project is under"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 786120850, "item_id": 49132553, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49132553", "by": "pelasaco", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I used to maintain rocket chat in the same order of magnitude and it was a mess.", "excerpt": "said that, i manage a matrix instance in my company for more than 500 users, and everything works just fine. I like their device authorization models, their stack is easy to maintain and update. Everything works flawless. I used to maintain rocket chat in the same order of magnitude and it was a mess. I deploy it in Kubernetes + Authentik and I am pretty happy with the results. Long live to Matrix/Element!", "context": "", "use_case": "company chat", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Week in Matrix"}]}], "who": [{"by": "badsectoracula", "context": "retro game dev making an Xbox game engine", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50042518", "date": "2026-10-11"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["self-hosted community chat", "company chat", "discord alternative", "self-hosted team chat", "self-hosted company chat"], "compared": [{"slug": "matrix", "name": "Matrix", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "mattermost", "name": "Mattermost", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "zulip", "name": "Zulip", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "element", "name": "Element", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "discord", "name": "Discord", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50041540", "title": "IRCv3", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49130295", "title": "A Week in Matrix", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46945663", "title": "Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46861331", "title": "Mattermost say they will not clarify what license the project is under", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46671952", "title": "Show HN: Dock \u2013 Slack minus the bloat, tax, and 90-day memory loss", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"compare": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"warn": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 800680289, "item_id": 50042518, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50042518", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i'd probably use RocketChat or something like that", "excerpt": "Just yesterday i was working on my game engine for the original Xbox using the open source NXDK kit (which is much lower level than the official XDK) and i finally, after literal years, managed to find and fix a couple of bugs that caused flickering (much more obscure than you'd expect and didn't show up even in the emulator). So i decided to share it with a couple friends and retro enthusiast communities on Discord.", "context": "retro game dev making an Xbox game engine", "use_case": "self-hosted community chat", "switched_from": "", "story": "IRCv3"}, {"id": 786120850, "item_id": 49132553, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49132553", "by": "pelasaco", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I used to maintain rocket chat in the same order of magnitude and it was a mess.", "excerpt": "said that, i manage a matrix instance in my company for more than 500 users, and everything works just fine. I like their device authorization models, their stack is easy to maintain and update. Everything works flawless. I used to maintain rocket chat in the same order of magnitude and it was a mess. I deploy it in Kubernetes + Authentik and I am pretty happy with the results. Long live to Matrix/Element!", "context": "", "use_case": "company chat", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Week in Matrix"}, {"id": 751132659, "item_id": 46945791, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46945791", "by": "jszymborski", "date": "2026-02-09", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I looked into hosting Rocket.chat, Zullip, and Mattermost but from what I recall voice + mobile were either missing or paywalled", "excerpt": "So my friend group has been looking for alternatives for a while now that feel like discord, works on mobile and desktop, and has voice chat. I use Signal but the UI is very different from Discord. I've had very mixed experiences with Element + Matrix, Element keeps crashing on mobile, and while voice chat kinda exists in Element it's not been great imho. I looked into hosting Rocket.chat, Zullip, and Mattermost but ", "context": "", "use_case": "Discord alternative", "switched_from": "", "story": "Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month"}, {"id": 749788544, "item_id": 46861784, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46861784", "by": "nix0n", "date": "2026-02-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Rocket chat[0] is also worth looking at.", "excerpt": "If you are looking for another self-hostable alternative to Slack, Rocket chat[0] is also worth looking at. I wasn't involved in any of the Dev Ops aspect when my former employer used them, but the search function actually worked which is better than I can say for Slack. [0]https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/blob/develop/LICENSE", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted team chat", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mattermost say they will not clarify what license the project is under"}, {"id": 746813394, "item_id": 46675837, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46675837", "by": "TkTech", "date": "2026-01-18", "stance": "compare", "quote": "If I go with Zulip, mattermost, rocket.chat, matrix, etc I introduce maintenance overhead", "excerpt": "I might have missed it, but no mention of _where_ data is stored in the FAQ and seems critically reliant on Cloudflare. In a changing world, what's the selling point for those outside of the USA? Why would our company pick this over self-hosting when our country is threatened with American annexation almost weekly? If I go with Zulip, mattermost, rocket.chat, matrix, etc I introduce maintenance overhead but I don't h", "context": "company outside the USA needing business continuity", "use_case": "self-hosted company chat", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Dock \u2013 Slack minus the bloat, tax, and 90-day memory loss"}]}